Breaking Down
by Sleepwalker48
Summary: As relationships develop and tempers flare between the Brawlers, an Intruder arrives from Pit's past, threatening to flip everyone's lives upside-down, and after this adventure, they will never be the same again. Link/Zelda, Daisy/Pit, Samus/Ike, Dark Link/ Peach, Dark Zelda/ OC; Drama/Suspense/Humor-ish/Romance/ Adventure Rated 'T' for Language, Themes & Random Strutting.
1. Introduction

**A/N- Wouldn't have been able to do this without Epicfire123. For all our times together, and for many laughs to come, this is for you!**

**Okay, so this is a little introduction on how this Brawl Universe is different from all the others ones, according to me and Epicfire123 (You don't have to read this if you don't have to; but it might help and clear up some misunderstanding if the story jump starts to fast):**

**XXX**

**Pit:** Probably my favorite character right now. I thought he deserved his own story, since he's not the most popular character in the world. Is an angel, of course; in his own games he serves Lady Paletena, the goddess of light, to battle the forces of evil. Your typical hero, pretty much. Has been dating Daisy for about two months. Used to live in Skyworld, but now lives in the Mansion because of unknown facts. Acts like a fourteen year old kid, though he's been alive for many years. Has many enemies in his game.

**Link**: Our green clad hero. Epicfire123's favorite character. I guess you could say he and Pit are the main characters in this story. Is dating Zelda. Has been dating her (consecutively) for a year now. Is the hero of time, twilight, wind, space, blah, blah, blah (sorry Epicfire 123). Wields the Triforce of Courage. Has a dark side named Dark Link; hates Dark Link with an incomprehensible rage.

**Zelda**: The Queen of Hyrule. Is Link's girlfriend. She wields the Triforce of Wisdom, and is likewise very wise. But because she's not the _best _fighter, she always happens to get kidnapped. Like Peach. Anyway, she has the power of magic, and has a dark incarnation as well; Dark Zelda, who was created with Dark Link by Ganondorf.

**Daisy**: Is Peach's younger sister by two years. Is currently dating Pit, but used date Bowser until she found out that he was the one kidnapping her sister. She wishes she could swordfight or use a bow and arrow, but in her kingdom, weapons were banned from women to use. She can wield a golf club like a katana, though.

**Dark Zelda:** Dark Link's sister, since they were created from the same person. Has an affinity for Dark Magic and Dark Magic users; has a crush on Ike. Hates Zelda and Link for obvious, evil reasons; because she was created to do so. Not as smart as the original Zelda, but has just enough tendency for mischief that she still poses as a threat.

**Dark Link**: Let's see, what to say about him….he is Clumsy, brutal, unforgiving and vengeful. Possesses Link's sword fighting skills but not his experience. Doesn't cause trouble at the Mansion with his sister since if they do, they will be kicked out of the Mansion for good. So they're relatively harmless there.

**Samus**: One of my favorite characters. Is a bounty hunter in her game, but now, in this world, has softened enough to be approachable. Probably because of Ike. Nobody really approaches her, though. She is often seen kissing him in dark corners of the Mansion. Very sarcastic, up front and sometimes bitchy.

**Ike:** One of my favorite characters. Is a mercenary in his game; has killed for money without remorse or thought other than his own selfishness. Has pride taller than the Eiffel Tower; is as stubborn as a rock. He doesn't speak much, only when he is around Samus; doesn't really like anybody, except for perhaps Samus and Toonie and Zelda. But even with Zelda, it's a love-hate relationship. Has been dating Samus for as long as he's been at the mansion, which is seven months. Has an intense and unfathomable hatred for Pit.

**Peach:** Isn't going to be in this story much. Might appear in the sequel. Used to date Mario, used to date Marth. Obviously gets tired of guys fast. She's not completely shallow, though; she's just easily flattered.

**Marth:** Doesn't appear much in this story either. Might be in the sequel. Used to have a crush on Daisy, and she used to like him also, but eventually she went with Pit. Is friends with Ike. Used to date Peach. Is often described as calm, graceful, and bored. Knows how to dance. Very well.


	2. What Samus Began

**a/N- this story is going to start off humourous, then slowly... not be humorous. Yeah, not sure how that happened, but here you go.**

**EpicFire123: I blame you. *flips table***

**Me: I know you blame me. *puts tables back up***

**EpicFire123: *flips it back again and sits on it.***

**Me: *rolls eyes* well, you got me there...**

**Pit: Oh gosh, what's going to happen to us?! Our lives are in the hands of THESE lunatics?**

**Me: *grins evilly***

**_~Beginning of Part One~_**

**XXX**

She thought the Mansion should do something productive for once, so Samus threatened all of the older, human like Brawlers to sign up for Tango Classes in one of the relatively storage rooms, once a week, for forty-five minutes.

It probably would've one relatively well, had she not been the one teaching a room full of bored and reluctant fighters. Because, let's face it, it probably wasn't the greatest idea, to let Samus Aran, space hunter, to teach a class on dancing.

"You have to learn how to move your hips, Ike," Samus said. The music in the used CD player was playing a fast paced tune in the corner of the room, and other Brawlers around in tune with their partners.

"I don't have hips," Ike stated, stepping stiffly with her back and forth.

"Yes, you do," Samus said, and she moved her hands from her neck to his hips. Their bodies moved with each other as Samus guided him. "See?"

"Just because yours is the circumference of the whole earth…" Ike muttered. He would not be there had his girlfriend had not dragged him there. Samus tread on his foot. "Ow! What the heck?"

"Oh, sorry," Samus said dryly. "I misstepped."

Most of the people in the Mansion, though, were not natural dancers.

"LINK HOW COME YOU CAN MOVE YOUR HIPS BETTER THAN ME?!" Zelda yelled, her voice echoing throughout the small room.

"Swordfighting…?" Link said meekly.

"…screw you."

Peach looked up from her steps to stare at her, shocked. "Zelda!"

Zelda ignored her and continued to concentrate on her steps. Link in front of her went on to move with such adeptness it was ridiculous.

"HOW THE $%#& DO YOU DO THAT LINK?!"

Link stayed silent, not really knowing what to say in his queen's sudden emotional attack.

Some partners, though were having even more trouble than _them._ Dark Link was dancing with his sister, concentrating so hard his face was red and wet with perspiration. Suddenly he broke his hip.

"Really?" Dark Zelda said, stepping back to gape at her brother, incredulous.

Samus broke away from Ike to pause the music. "Let's take a break guys. Get some water, and cool down."

She crossed the room to dry the sweat off her face with one of the small towels, hanging on the benches. Zelda unscrewed the top of her bottled water angrily. Samus turned to her in what she thought was in a calm matter. "Zelda, you need to cool down. You might just need another partner." She looked across the room at where the boys were drying off. She spotted Dark Link, still nursing his broken hip, and Marth, arms raised above his head and stretching his chest, looking as if he'd been dancing for his whole life. "Dark Link; can you go and get that checked out…?"

"I got it," Dark Zelda said, crossing over to him with a look of annoyance to work her healing magic on him.

Samus nodded and turned to Marth next. "Marth! I need you to trade with Link. And let's start again, guys!"

"Ow!" Dark Link said. Samus looked over to him, his face twisted in pain. Dark Zelda grinned mischievously. "You're not fixing it, you're breaking it more!"

"Just because your hips are those relative to that of an old lady's," Dark Zelda retorted.

Samus sighed in exasperation. "Dark Zelda, can you just… heal him right?"

"Fine," Dark Zelda said scornfully, and within seconds Dark Link's face changed from that of anguish to calm relief.

Samus rolled her eyes. Siblings. She bent down to press the play button.

"Wait, what?" Link said, looking from Peach to Marth, who was crossing the room over to Zelda with a faint look of amusement on his face. "You two are dancing with each other? No!"

Zelda shot Link a look. "That's fine, I guess," she said, and the two started dancing.

Samus looked over to Zelda and Marth, finally feeling as though she had gotten control of her class. 'You could learn a lot from him," she told her. He couldn't really explain it, but his natural grace and smooth manner had made him one of the top students in her class. She turned then to Link who was standing in the middle of the room with an awkward looking Ike. "Get over here and let's see what you can do, pretty boy. You're dancing with me now."

Link blinked and pointed to his chest in confusion.

Samus rolled her eyes. "_Yes,_ you."

"AW HELL NO!" Zelda exploded. "BACK OFF!"

Link made no comment.

Samus turned to Zelda in frustration. "You need to learn to let your boyfriend go. We are _just_ dancing!"

"And what about me?" Ike asked her.

Completely disinterested in the situation. "You go with Dark Zelda."

"What?! Hell no!" Whoa. Déjà vu.

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY LINKxSAMUS FANFICTIONS THERE ARE! ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!" Zelda shrieked. "HE ALREADY HAS SEVEN LOVE INTERESTS!"

"Eight, actually," Link put in unhelpfully.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WORNG WITH YOU?!" Samus shouted, ignoring the boys for the moment. Everyone in the room stopped dancing to the music to watch their yelling episode. "WE'RE _JUST _DANCING, WE'RE IN CONTROL OF OUR OWN BODIES, NOT SOME ACTORS OF SOME CRAZY PLAY, ZELDA!"

"And who do I go with?" Dark Link asked in a small voice.

"PEACH!" Samus screamed. "THE ONLY GIRL I HAVEN'T SWITCHED!"

Dark Link looked at her wide eyed, then looked to his left at Peach. The princess blushed.

"OH YEAH?!" Zelda proclaimed. "THAT'S WHAT PRINCESS RUTO, ILIA, AND ASHLEI SAID BEFORE MAULING HIM!"

"Samus wouldn't…" Link said quietly.

"FINE! TAKE BACK YOU WEAK ASS BOYFRIEND!" Samus shrieked. "HAPPY, PRINCESS?!"

Ike raised his hand. "Can I switch too—"

"NO."

From across the room, Dark Zelda said, "This is fun!"

Dark Link, who was dancing with Peach, looked to her and asked, "You like Tango dancing?"

"No… that's not what I meant…"

Dark Link shrugged and continued moving to the music. He looked down to his partner, who had been looking down the whole time and not meeting his eyes. "I'm just glad I'm not dancing with my sister, you know?" Dark Link said, trying to spark up some conversation in the midst of Samus and Zelda's vicious argument. Peach only blushed, very aware of how close he was to her and the way his were meant for her and only her.

Zelda and Samus still stood at the center of the room fuming. Marth offered a very hopeless suggestion: "Maybe Link and Ike can be paired with each other?"

Link and Ike both glared at him.

Samus rolled her eyes. "No. Don't be ridiculous, Marth. Stop just standing there and come to the from of the class and demonstrate with me." Samus felt very tired of giving order all of a sudden. Must have been all that yelling. As Marth stepped over to her, she tried to gain control of the class again. "We're going to be dancing again, guys. Dark Zelda, with Ike, Zelda, with Link."

For a few minutes things were going smoothly. Samus demonstrated the necessary moves to the song with Marth at the front of the room; everyone followed suit relatively well. Then:

"Why do I feel Dark Magic here?" The eyes of Dark Zelda and Dark Link shot to the back of the room at Ganondorf.

"I DUNNO," Dark Zelda said obviously.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" Samus fumed at him.

"… and who has he been dancing with?" Dark Link commented to Peach, smirking.

"I felt a Dark Magic presence here," Ganondorf stated. He glared at Dark Zelda.

Dark Zelda pouted. "You never let me have _any _fun!" With a sudden flick of her hand, a swirl of Dark Magic covered the other Zelda, and she fell unconscious.

Samus looked at the fallen figure, shocked. "Umm… I think this class is over." She stopped dancing and went over to stop the music. Link went over to where Zelda was, and Ike shuffled away from Dark Zelda, who was giving him sly looks.

Dark Link and Peach dropped their hands. "I think we were having a lot of fun though, don't you think?"

Peach turned away in embarrassment. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

XXX

**A/N- Oh gosh, what have I created? Am I suddenly shipping Peach and Dark Link? Where did that even come from? Guys, forgive me…**

**EpicFire123: *flips table and walks away***

**Me: You really have to stop doing that, you know. You're breaking all of our tables we have in here...**

**EpicFire123: *flips another table***

**Me: *facepalms***

**Ike: Um, okay.. That's nothing compared to what she's going to ship _next…_**

**Samus: Or who she's going to introduce soon…**

**Me: Seriously… There's something wrong with me. Next chapter or so I'm going to be introducing a character from one of Link's games and a character from Pit's game. NO JUDGING! These two characters are actually antagonists, and are NOT OCs. **


	3. What Zelda Created

**A/N- So, this story is mainly drama and adventure, but these next few chapters will be mostly humor. I hope you enjoy!**

**Ike: Enjoy some unprecedented strutting? I don't think so.**

**Me: SHHH! Don't spoil it!**

**XXX**

In the infirmary now, Zelda regained consciousness. Link helped her sit up cautiously, having been at her side the whole time. Samus stood a little to the side with Ike, glaring and crossing her arms in annoyance, even when Zelda had been unconscious. Dark Link and Peach and Dark Zelda were there too, for some reason, and so was Ganon, looking on in detached interest.

"Wha-What happened?" Zelda asked. She got up, leaning on Link for support.

"I kissed you and you collapsed in surprise," Dark Link said, not wanting to miss his chance of making someone uncomfortable.

"WHAT?!" Zelda screeched, before kicking him in the balls. Link staggered back. Apparently she was better than he thought.

Dark Link cringed in unmanly horror; "Holy—just kidding!" gritted, falling to the ground.

Samus sighed, walking over from where she stood with Ike. She looked to Ganon. "Next time, you and Dark Zelda can't come."

Zelda glared at Dark Link. "What about that abomination of a—"

"What did I do?" Ganon asked, feeling unjustified. "If anything, I HELPED."

Samus looked to Zelda. "Dark Link didn't DO anything. He just said something you happened to believe."

"Thank you." Dark Link said smugly. Samus glared at him, and Dark Link kept quiet.

"Oh. Sorry," Zelda said, sounding really sincere. "So what exactly happened?"

No one, unfortunately, spoke up to answer. Link, Samus and Ike were actually surprised that she was asking the question, like it didn't just happen. Peach knelt down to where Dark Link was still hunched in a ball of shame on the floor, and Dark Zelda tried to make a run for it.

"I have a feeling SHE stole Zelda's memory." Ganondorf pushed her forward and proceeded to walk out of the room himself, feeling very unappreciated.

"What?" Zelda said, extremely confused by now.

"Yeah…" Dark Zelda said, getting off from the floor. "She doesn't remember anything."

"Then restore her memory!" Samus demanded.

"I can't…." Dark Zelda faltered. Link facepalmed.

"This is freakin' ridiculous…" Samus muttered.

"You really want to continue this fight, don't you?" Ike said to Samus.

"Yes," she replied. "GANON! GET OVER HERE!"

"You okay?" Peach asked next to Dark Link.

"Yeah," Dark Link said in a voice that was definitely _not _okay.

"Come on; let's get you out of here," Peach said, helping him up. The two staggered out of the room.

"Yes?" Ganondorf said, appearing next to Samus now.

"What in the name of the goddesses happened?" Zelda exclaimed.

"To you?" Ike ventured to answer. "Dark Zelda took your memory of the fight and doesn't know how to restore it."

"Now put it back," Samus said to Ganon.

"Oh, that's simple." Out of nowhere, Ganon knocked Zelda out with a club.

"WHAT THE—" Link stuttered.

"Cerebral recalibration," Ganon stated, as if that explained everything.

"You just hit her in the head!"

"Exactly," Ganon said, shrugging.

Samus looked at the fallen figure on the floor. "I could've done that…"

Ganon walked out of the room, dragging Dark Zelda with him. Before Link could chase after him, though, Zelda started to stir.

"Oh… my head," she groaned clutching at her skull.

"You okay?" Link asked her, hand on her shoulder. "Being knocked unconscious twice in one day can't be good for you."

"Yeah," Zelda said, smiling slightly. Link helped her up off the bed. She looked at Samus apologetically. "Sorry."

Samus crossed her arms. "Yeah. That's what I thought. Like I said, I wasn't trying to make a move on your boyfriend."

Zelda gave her a look. "It's not like I would've done that if I was my normal self."

"You were still being an annoying asshole," Samus said, looking away in disdain. "You probably would've accused me of hitting on him if you _weren't _being controlled by Dark Zelda."

Zelda rounded on her with a death glare. "Are you trying to say something?"

"Girls…" Link said, trying to cut in.

"I think we should go now, Samus," Ike muttered, making an attempt to steer her towards the door.

Samus wrenched herself free, saying, "I'm just trying to say… you're a jealous bitch."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

"Girls!" Link yelled. Suddenly a cat fight erupted, the boys trying to drag their girlfriends away from each other, but it was just one of those things that happened at the Mansion.

XXX

"But seriously, who _was _Ganon dancing with?" Marth said, picking up some bacon with some tongs onto his plate. "It seemed like he came out of nowhere."

"I don't know," Zelda said blandly.

"I mean, the only other girl in the Mansion is Daisy," Marth said, grabbing a strawberry pastry. "And she wasn't even in the room. So it couldn't have been her…"

"How do you know?" Zelda said, reaching for a carton of orange juice as they went down the line. "We didn't know Ganondorf was in the room until he accused Dark Zelda of using Dark Magic."

The three made their way to the circular cafeteria tables. Marth followed them, lost in his thoughts and unaware that he was still walking with them. "I'm guessing it was Ghirahim," Marth said, still musing on last night as the three sat down at a table with Pit and Daisy. The second couple sat very close to each other but didn't touch. They smiled at them brightly. They were, everyone at the Mansion could see (except for maybe Ike), extremely adorable together.

"Maybe Ganondorf wasn't dancing with anybody," Zelda said, trying not to notice Link staring daggers at his evil twin sitting at the table next to them.

"No, Samus wouldn't let you in if you didn't have a partner," Marth reasoned. He took a bite of his pastry, before adding, "And from what you've told me of Ghirahim, he seems just the type to go around the Mansion and crashing Dance Classes; gay, intruding and just down right creepy."

"He might have let himself in," Pit piped in, agreeing with Marth. He and Daisy were not allowed to go to the Tango Lessons because they were too young. He reached for his banana nut muffin at the edge of his plate, brushing Daisy's arm in the process. The two jumped slightly, looking at the other bashfully. Daisy moved her arm to let Pit get his food, and they blushed.

"Who could he have been with?" Marth said, ignoring Pit's observation. "Who was he—"

"Hey guiiiiiiiiiiz!" Came a voice from the cafeteria doorway. "We awake already?" The five turned to the deep, unfamiliar voice, and Pit dropped his muffin into his oatmeal mid-bite. Everyone in the Cafeteria gaped at the sight that was before them.

XXX

In the Mansion there were only a few that rose over everyone else; Ike, Ganondorf, and Samus, who had legs like a model's. But this man—if you would call him a man—towered. He filled the room with his height and his size, from his massive chest to his bulging shoulders and arms. His skin was dark purple; his hair was splayed on his head in thick, dark strands of green, red and black. His whole being pounded with energy, from his hair that whipped around is face to the toga that covered him to the unnatural tinted skin. But the energy—his energy—was something negative; an unsettling premonition, or a near- death nightmare. His presence, oddly, made her shiver; a happenence that didn't occur often with the Queen of Hyrule.

And yet, this man—being—thing—dude—was smiling, and smiling directly at her.

"Um… hello…" Zelda said unsurely.

The man at the door smiled seductively. "Hello."

"Oh, no you don't!" Pit seemed to wake up from the daze he was in, bolting out of his chair. "Just because she's a goddess, does not give you the right to hit on her!"

"Uh…" was Zelda's reply.

"Who is this guy?" Link said, standing up now and casting him a look of immediate hatred. "I don't like him."

The man at the doorway to a step forward, his inappropriate smile still drawn on his face. "The name's Hades," he said, bringing up his hands in a flourish. "Ruler of the Underworld. But Pitty here would already know that, wouldn't he?"

"Y-you know this guy?" Daisy stammered to Pit.

"Unfortunately," Pit said, casting the being a dangerous look. "Why are you here? How-how did you get here?"

Link got out his sword slowly. "Back off from her Highness."

Hades raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Whoa there, Legolas. I haven't done anything."

"Don't bother, Link," Pit said. "He's a god… your sword can't kill him."

"Very good, Pitty Pat!" Hades looked at him with swelling pride. "So glad my favorite little angel hasn't forgotten the facts of the Eternal."

Daisy giggled at Pit's side. "Pitty-Pat?"

Link, not able to help himself, laughed. Zelda and Marth smiled, not believing their ears, while Pit blushed like crazy. "Don't call me that!"

"Why, Pitty?" Hades mocked. "Losing cool points in front of the popular kids?"

Others in the room had caught on to the situation and began to laugh as well. Ike, who had been standing in the food line with Samus, was laughing so hard he clutched at his side. "This guy is my new best friend!" he crowed.

"He looks—he looks—" Link was interrupted by his own laughter, tears coming to his eyes. "He looks as if Ganondorf and Ghirahim had a kid!" That made Zelda and Marth burst out laughing.

Ganondorf from across the room crossed his arms, glaring at Link and then at Hades. "I am offended."

Hades cocked an eyebrow. "Alright, who is this Ghirahim?"

Suddenly a blue skinned, dark-eyed, tight wearing, skinny white haired demon appeared out of nowhere, raising his hands up above his head in a dramatic model-like fashion. "That would be MEEEEEEEEEE!"  
Hades stared at him, wide eyed. "Holy—Darkest pits of the Underworld, who is THAT?"

XXX

**Me: I think Hades cleared it up quite nicely. That phrase: 'Darkest pits of the Underworld', is an original one, btw. 'Pitty-Pat', though, is not. It's from 'Kid Icarus: Uprising'; Pit's game.**

**Pit: Oh, so now you're COMPLIMENTING the guy?! Next thing you know, you're gonna write whole fanfictions about this guy!**

**ME: WHAT?! NO! I would never do that! He's evil! **

**Pit: Uh-huh. And what about that seriously LONG description about him when he first appeared, huh?**

**Me: What? I HAD to explain that—not because I LIKE the guy, but because most people reading this thing in the SSBB section wouldn't know who Hades is!**

**Pit: Uh-huh. Riiiiiiiiiight. So then why did you limit Ghirahim's character description to just one sentence?**

**Me: THIS PROVES NOTHING! (and Epicfire couldn't be here because she is out for Spring Break. I'm gonna miss her…)**

**Pit: She'd agree with me.**

**Me: She's not here. You can't just assume that.**


	4. Much Ado About Strutting

**XXX**

Ghirahim struck another pose. "Why, _I'm _the fabulous Ghirahim, the demon lord of Deku!"

Ganondorf moved forward to confront the pale-blue skinned demon. "You need to go—"

Hades put his hand on his hips with some serious attitude. "Well, if you fabulous, then I'm the most gorgeous one here!"

Pit facepalmed. "Oh Paletena…"

Ghirahim struck another pose. "AW HELL NO!"

Zelda blinked. "Whoa… déjà vu…"  
Most of the Brawlers in the cafeteria took in the change of scene in horror. Many left with their breakfasts. Ike and Samus stood frozen, still at their places at the cafeteria line. "You wanna leave?" Ike asked Samus.

"I thought you liked this new guy."

"I changed my mind," he said. "Let's go."

As they left, Hades and Ghirahim started strutting around the room, hands holding their hips and their head as they challenged each other with different poses.

"Oh goddesses…" Zelda moaned, still frozen at the table areas.

"Mmm, you don't got it like I do," Hades said, strutting a little ahead of Ghirahim.

"Oh, I beg to differ," Ghirahim replied, lifting his hands above his head with a flourish.

~Ten minutes later~

"I AM THE MOST FABULOUS! DEAL WITH IT!" Ghirahim shouted.

"YOU _WISH _YOU HAD IT LIKE ME!" Hades yelled.

Zelda and Link stood in a gape mouthed horror. Ike and Samus poked their heads back in the kitchen.

"Oh, gosh; They're still strutting?" Ike exclaimed.

Pit sat at the tables, trying not to look at the two strutting it up all over the place. Daisy, on the other hand, was being scarred for life.

"Just don't look, Daisy," Pit told her.

"Why…?" Daisy from then on was speechless.

"AT LEAST I WEAR SEXY TIGHTS!" Ghirahim countered with an attractive twirl.

Link's face turned a sickly shade of green. "I'm going to be sick…"

Suddenly Hades did a little spin; "But you can't pull of a sexy toga like how I do it!"

"Holy—he's not wearing anything under that!" Ike exclaimed. Samus almost gagged.

When Dark Link and Dark Zelda walked into the room, Dark Link stood shocked at the unusual situation, unable to wrap his mind around what was happening. Dark Zelda, though, seized the situation at once, appearing at Link's shoulder. "I dare you to throw your gale boomerang."

"NO."

"This is just wrong," Zelda said, starting to come out of her shock.

"COME ON, GANNY-POO! COME AND STRUT WITH US!" Ghirahim called out to the Dark Lord.

Link actually snickered at that. "Ganny-poo?"

Samus laughed out loud. "Oh yeah, where is that guy?" Ike said, staying just for the heck of it.

"I think he went and jumped off a building or something," Samus told him in between peals of laughter.

Hades stopped mid-pose and turned around, finding Pit still sitting at one of the tables. "Oh, Pitty-Pat! Why don't you join us?"

Ghirahim turned and grabbed Link. "Strut with us, pretty boy!"

Zelda gasped. "OH MY GODDESSES—"

Samus and Ike immediately stopped laughing. "Whoa," Ike said. "He's gone too far."

Hades grabbed Pit and shoved him in the strutting space. "OH HADES HAVE MERCY—" Pit shouted in dismay.

Link unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Ghirahim. "GET. AWAY."

"HE SPEAKS!" Ghirahim exclaimed, pointing at the usually silent hero.

Hades shoved Pit in front of him. "Now DANCE, Angel Boy!"

"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

Daisy and Dark Zelda looked on in absent horror. "What kind of twisted place has this become for us?" Ike asked rhetorically.

"I don't know," Samus began, hardly believing her eyes. "But I don't think I'm going to do Tango Lessons again this week."

XXX

Link continued to dodge the mad attempts of Ghirahim, while Pit and Hades still went at each other furiously; the whole precession erupting in yelling and screaming all the while.

"I'm done," Zelda said, finally stepping forward. She cast a spell that made Hades and Ghirahim fall silent. Pit and Link stopped screaming as soon as they did, and Hades and Ghirahim opened and closed their mouths mutely. Zelda grinned at them and crossed her arms. "Much better."

Hades glared at Zelda, eyes the picture of devastation, and she knew at once that the things she had seen in those eyes earlier were about to come to light, even before Hades gave a wave of his hand. Out of nowhere appeared a hooded monster, with a skull for a face, red eyes that shot beaming lasers, and holding a large, wicked scythe.

"REAPER!" Pit exclaimed, getting a bow out of nowhere and notching an arrow at once. "STAY AWAY FROM ITS EYEEEEEEEES!"

Hades just crossed his arms and smirked at Zelda. Link backed away from the monster slowly, heeding Pit's advice, but Zelda met Hades with a challenge of her own. She whipped out her light bow and shot at the Reaper, shooting it right in the face. It dropped to the ground with a deafening dying screech. Zelda lowered her bow and smirked right back at Hades.

He immediately produced 20 more, the Reapers waving their scythes wildly. They were all freaking out at the same time, attacking the group in the room with no bars held.

Zelda grinned. Challenge accepted.

She swung her bow left and right, battling five reapers with Link beside her. "This'll be fun," Zelda said.

"FUN?!" Dark Link cried behind her, who was being backed up against the wall with his sister. "FUN?!"

Three Reapers and a lunch table away, Zelda saw Hades looking at her again, crossing his arms as he stood unfazed and unharmed in the middle of the Reaper Battle. All around him shrieked Reapers, loud and chaotic, like a dying dinosaur almost, but he stood still and calm, as if he knew they wouldn't be able to harm him. Next to him, she saw Ghirahim screaming silently, right before getting overrun by the deadly Reapers himself.

A few feet to her left, Pit slashed furiously with his bow, which he had broken to wield as dual knives. He was surrounded by at least seven of them, blocking against them while shielding Daisy behind her. But she wasn't your average damsel in distress; for she had whipped out a golf club form underneath the lunch tables from where they had been eating and was holding them back quite nicely. "You just Had to take his voice away, didn't you?" Pit shouted over to the Queen.

A few decapitated Reapers lay on the floor next to her from Link's mad sword fighting skills, and reverting to magic enabled Zelda to destroy her foes quickly, burning them with ashes. "You're going to have to do better than THAT," Zelda said tersely, her words directed at Hades. The Reapers dropped around them in a final burst of magic, burnt to ashes by her Majesty. The fight had been won, save two or three at the other end of the room that were being taken care of by Dark Link and Dark Zelda. Zelda turned her hard gaze to him. "_Earn _your voice."

Pit turned to her fearfully. "Um, no. You don't want to do that—"

But it was too late. Hades narrowed his eyes and retaliated, conjuring a whole mob of Underworld forces inside and outside the room, perhaps in the entire mansion, since screams from the other Brawlers were heard from beyond the cafeteria. With a last look, Hades disappeared, a puff of black smoke the only trace of him that he had ever been there.

"Well, great!" exclaimed Pit. "Now he's REALLY mad!"

A smile creeped on Zelda's face. "Now THAT's more like it!"

"Zelda! Go!" Link shouted next to her. "I'll take care of them!"

"What? NO!" Zelda yelled, outraged. "I can protect myself!"

Link said nothing more, but in his head thought, "Says the one who always gets KIDNAPPED!"

"I CAN HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS, ASSHOLE!" Zelda shouted out loud.

"GUYS!" said Pit from across the room. "IS THIS REALLY THE TIME TO ARGUE ABOUT THIS?"

"YES!" Link and Zelda said simultaneously.

A Reaper sliced at Link's head. He ducked a split second before the monster could kill him.

"WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU?" Pit raged. The fear of being overcome was beginning to grip the angel, making him worried not just for his sake but for Daisy's as well. They had both taken stances on top of the lunch tables now, and soon, Zelda and Link did the same.

Pit reconnected his bow, pulling arrows from his satchel attached to his back and firing rapidly. Daisy still swung like crazy, looking a little frightened, but kept on fighting on nonetheless.

Zelda kept firing flaming projectiles from her fingertips and Link shot bomb arrows, keeping the monsters at bay and sending many of them fleeing from the door. But she knew deep down that the otherworld forces were just too many. More and more kept on surging in from the doorways. Ghirahim cried silently from a corner.

"AW, COME ON!" Samus yelled from somewhere up front. "THIS IS JUST INSANE!" Zelda had almost forgotten they were there. For a split second she allowed herself to look past the forces and the lunch counter and see Ike and Samus fighting back to back. Samus was paralyzing monsters by the dozen, and Ike knocking them down viciously, but she could tell by their movements that the army was tiring them out; that them alone could not stand against 50 more of these things, much less the hundred more they really needed to get through.

"WHERE DID THAT LITTLE SHIT GO, ANYWAY?" Samus screamed to no one. "BECAUSE I'D LIKE TO GIVE HIM A PIECE OF MY MIND FOR PUTTING US THROUGH ALL THIS!"

"ZELDA'S the one who started all this," Ike growled. "SHE took his voice. SHE'S just too STUBBORN to give it back!"

"Dammit, Zelda!" Link said next to her. "We can't handle all of them! Give him back his voice!"

"FINE, FINE; I WILL!" Zelda shouted to them, and with a wave of her arm, her magic relinquished their voices. Ghirahim's screams could be heard now.

Hades reappeared, the throng of monsters surging around him violently as he leaned against the doorway of the Cafeteria casually. "Well. What a situation we've got here."

"DAMN RIGHT WE'VE GOT A SITUATION!" Samus shouted.

Hades gave her a disapproving look, then turned his attention back to Zelda. "But I never said I'd make all the baddies go away if you gave me back my voice."

"You—you couldn't talk at all!" Pit said frantically, eyes wide.

"Exactly…" Hades said, and disappeared in another cloud of smoke.

"Fine," Zelda said, and with another wave of her hand, she took away Hades' and Ghirahim's voice once again. Ghirahim's screams ended abruptly, but Hades never walked back into the room for retribution. Desperately, she flicked her hand again, and Ghirahim's screams could be heard once more, but still Hades did not come back to take away the army. Zelda would've collapsed with despair, had she and her friends had not been in trouble still, otherworld monsters of different sizes and forms still surging around them. Despite everything, though, she was surprised at how fast he had united in order to protect the Mansion; in the far corner, Dark Link and Dark Zelda fought in synchronic brutality. Pit and Daisy still held their positions on top of their table, and Ike and Samus fought on, back to back. The queen could not bear to look at her boyfriend, even though he was fighting right beside her. She could not bring herself to confront his look of disappointment and distrust. But could this be the end now? Nobody wanted to die.

"Need some help?"

Zelda, Pit, Daisy and Link turned in the direction of the heavy Italian accented voice. There, in the doorway, were Mario and Luigi, already trapped in the heat of the battle. Behind them, Kirby, Yoshi, Meta Knight and other fellow Brawlers grinned in anticipation, holding up their appropriate weapons before jumping into the frenzy themselves.

"Whoo-hoo, YEAH!" hooted Pit, surging with new energy at the sight of new recruits. Daisy grinned in relief at the sight of the twenty or more Brawlers coming to help. Within minutes the Cafeteria was cleared, Hades' forces lying strewn on the floor, struck dead in their own thick, black blood. But even after they burnt all the monsters and cleaned up the Cafeteria's bloodied floor, none of the Brawlers could fine the one who had started it all; the Ruler of the Underworld had vanished from the Mansion completely.

**XXX**


	5. Completely Necessary Random Chaos

Pit winced.

"Hold _still, _Pit," Daisy said, trying to apply some suave to his side.

Daisy turned to the jar lying next to her on the bed, scooping up some more with the end of her fingertips. Pit bit his lip as she continued.

They sat in the infirmary, the two sitting on an available sick bed while Daisy sat beside him playing nurse. A box of medical supplies lay next to her as well, along with a bloodied washcloth stained with blood from Pit's own body. The murmurs of other people injured by the fight went on around them; the Brawlers, including Link, Zelda, Ike and Samus who had suffered through the worse of it in the cafeteria.

Daisy spoke, wanting to break the silence between them. "You always say you were no stranger to danger," she said teasingly. "And now look at you."

"Did I?" Pit said, his eyes clenched tight and not looking at her. The cut around that particular area was deep, as were many of the other cuts along his upper body. Those cuts, she felt, were her fault; because of her lack of experience in fighting hordes of enemies, Pit had felt that he needed to put himself in the way of her and the otherworld armies. In the end, she had come out of the Cafeteria Battle – because that's what everyone was calling it now—with only a few shallow cuts on her arms and face; nothing compared to his injuries.

"I think you're just misinterpreting me, though," Pit continued, trying to take his mind off the pain, she hoped. "I never said I was no stranger to _pain_. I think my time on Earth is really getting to me. I've fought hundreds of enemies at the same time, and I've never been this tired—or this injured."

"Why? – Do you think your time on Earth is affecting you negatively?" Daisy asked, starting to wrap the gauze around his midsection carefully.

"No," Pit said, opening his eyes the instant he said it. His blue eyes met her hazel-green, and Daisy paused, pretty sure she was the only one embarrassed in that situation if only for a single factor: Pit had no shirt on, and it was hard for her to concentrate on an appropriate answer. His wings were folded delicate-white over a back of slightly tanned skin; while she continued to apply the gauze she was amazed by how developed his muscles were. Pit turned away after what seemed hours, and she blushed. As she wrapped his arms, chest and midsection around the recently applied suave, she couldn't help but stare at the lovely traces of maturity his body showed when he looked like an adolescent.

A few beds away, Samus cursed loudly, and Zelda turned to hush her. Presently the two started bickering like always, and not even Link's persistent voice could get them to stop.

"How many monsters do you think you've defeated at one time?" Daisy said, finally finishing with the gauze. "Give me a round estimate." She smiled at him, she knew how much Pit like to brag to her about his daring adventures.

"Oh, say about twenty or thirty at one time," Pit said as Daisy put the roll of gauze back in the medical kit. She sat down next to him. "And there was one time where they had me completely surrounded, firing at me all at the same time."

Daisy's eyes widened. "How did you make it out?"

"Oh, it was easy. With a little help with my Crusader Blade, my epic dodging skills, and from Lady Paletena, I was out of there in no time."

Daisy fell silent. "Do you miss her? Your patron goddess?"

Pit didn't have an answer for her at first. "Sometimes." He turned to her and smiled weakly. "But I wouldn't trade my time at the Mansion for anything. It's been fun here, especially since I met you." Pit looked down then, and Daisy did too, staring at their feet. Their arms touched lightly.

Daisy was flattered. She felt the same way. Without Pit, she wouldn't have had any other people at the Mansion to talk to, besides her sister.

At the other side of the room, Samus and Zelda had ceased fighting. Daisy noticed Zelda and Link in one corner conversing softly. Zelda was casting guilty glances at his left shoulder where you could see his wounds because he was wearing an A-shirt.

"But… how did you know when to stop fighting if you never have actually been injured before?" Daisy asked him. "I mean, you still get tired. So how could you know when to actually stop?"

"I can't even remember," Pit said. "I just kept fighting, until I got slower and slower, and then Paletena would send me food to fill up my health again, and then it'd be alright." Pit frowned. "I never knew when to stop, because I never got hurt. I-I've never actually _bled _before now. And now I have. " Pit looked down at his bandages. "It hurts."

Daisy turned to him in earnest surprise. "Oh… I'm so sorry, Pit. I feel so bad now… if only I knew how to fight better."

"Don't worry about it," Pit said. He pecked her on the side of the forehead, his eyes shining bright blue. Daisy looked down bashfully as Pit reached inside the box of the medical supplies to retrieve the box of small bandages. Taking one, he unwrapped it, placing it gently on top of a small cut on the arm she had gotten from a small-clawed monster. "There," he said, smiling at her. "All better, right?"

Daisy looked at him then, not missing Samus and Ike making out on the farthest bed in the infirmary, obviously done patching each other up. No pressure or anything.

She leaned forward and placed a pecked him on the cheek. "Yeah. Thanks."

XXX

"EAT MY PIE, DAMMIT!"

Neither her nor Pit quite knew what to say to that.

Peach, her sister, had just made some pie. No one really wanted any, since she, Pit, Link and Zelda had just gone out for ice cream ten minutes earlier. Why she was so adamant about them eating the pie, she had no idea.

Dark Link, who had been brooding in the shadows a moment before, stepped to her quietly. "I'll take some pie," he told her.

Peach smiled at him widely. "You want the pie?" She held out the pan to him. Dark Link began to take it, but before he could, Peach slammed the pie in his face. "THEN EAT IT!" she screeched.

On the couch, Ike gaped in surprise. "What the _hell _is wrong with her?"

Daisy was just as surprised as he was, or as Dark Link, who was still standing in the middle of the room with a blank stare on his face, bits of peach pie falling from his face to the floor.

But Peach wasn't done yet. Out of nowhere, and in front of his own girlfriend, Peach strolled up to Ike, grabbed him by the front of the shirt to pull him up from the couch, and kissed him.

Pit and Daisy stared on in disbelief. Here was Peach; the calm, polite and insufferable princess who had tea time gossip every afternoon, and had prohibited Daisy from learning how to fight with actual weapons, was doing _this?_

Peach flinched back and pushed Ike, dumbfounded, back on the couch. "Uh," she said, frowning. "You aren't a good kisser. I BET SAMUS IS MARRIED TO A GOBLIN!"

Peach's outbursts had gotten the attention of everyone in the game room now. Link and Zelda watched on in confusion in the doorway.

"What the hell?" Samus exclaimed. Surprisingly she didn't get up and beat Peach up into a pulp right then and there. Everyone could see that the princess was not herself. Ike plopped back down on the couch next to her while Peach hopped on one foot, counting down from 100. "Is it dark magic?" Samus asked him, thinking of the failed Tango Class.

Ike shrugged, looking across the room accusingly. "I bet it was Ganon this time."

Ganondorf looked up, hearing him despite the loud TV that was still playing football in front of him as he lounged on the couch. "This wasn't me," Ganondorf muttered.

At once Ike stood up, pulling his sword out of nowhere. "She's a robot, guys," the mercenary said. "I've got this."

"Ike—!" Samus said, making him sit back down on the couch. "You don't know the difference between a toaster and a microwave!"

Ganondorf looked at each of the Dark Twins in turn. "Dark Link? Dark Zelda? Was this you?"

Dark Link had started wiping pie crust from his hair. "Not powerful enough. Besides, why would I make her hit me in the face with a pie?"

"Good point." Ganon cocked an eyebrow at Dark Zelda, watching the whole thing from behind the doorway the whole time.

Her eyes went wide. "I DUNNO!"

Peach began twitching uncontrollably. "Lovely weather we're having—" she began stuttering, not unlike a robot. "Why is everyone staring at me—I WANT TO BE A PENGUIN- - Now who wants some tea?"

Samus stood up with resolve. "Well, that was obvious." She whipped out her paralyzer gun and fired at Dark Zelda, who promptly fell unconscious.

"Aww, I wanted to render her unconscious!" Dark Link complained.

Peach looked at each of the Brawlers dazedly, blinking as if just woken up. "I… made some pie…"

Samus just rolled her eyes and sat back down on the couch with Ike, the two speaking to each other quietly. Daisy went over to her sister.

"Peach, are you okay?"

"Yeah, she replied, holding her head. "I think so."

Ike and Samus suddenly got up and walked out of the room. The remaining characters in the room looked on, not really surprised.

"Hmm," Ganondorf said, breaking the silence. "I wonder what THEY'RE about to do."

Dark Link stared at his dirty sleeves and shoes. "I think… I'm going to wipe this pie off my face now… and probably change too…" He began to walk out the room.

"Wait, let me help you," Peach said, meeting him by the doorway. Dark Link rose an eyebrow at her, stepped aside and let her go before him. The two made their way out.

Zelda looked to Link in the loveseat they shared. "I need more romanticism in my life."

Link blinked at her. "What do you mean by that?"

"Come on," she said, pulling him out of the seat with her to the other room.

Link was still confused. "Wait, wha—"

Ganondorf rolled his eyes before redirecting his attention to the TV screen.

"Well, that's one way of doing it," Pit commented, looking after Zelda and Link.

"What are they doing?" Daisy asked, sitting back down at their game of checkers with a curious look on her face.

Pit cast an awkward hand to his head. "Um…"

Dark Zelda began to stir from her spot on the floor, rubbing her head at the place where she had hit it falling unconscious from Samus' paralyzer. Daisy and Pit continued their game of checkers, Pit blatantly ignoring her questions about what Link and Zelda had gone away to do.

It was relatively peaceful in the game room.

And then, in the middle of the room where Dark Link and Peach , a certain purple-skinned, green-and-red- haired god appeared out of nowhere. Looking around at Ganon, Daisy and then lastly at Pit, Hades' face broke into a very big smile.

"I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK."

XXX

**A/N- CLIFFHANGER!**

**Pit- Aww, man! I hate cliffhangers!**

**Samus: Wait, you need to make something clear: was Peach helping Dark Link to go CLEAN UP or to go help him CHANGE?**

**Me: Umm…**

**Ike: Oh, gross.**

**Me: Well, I think Peach wanted to help him clean up. But maybe Dark Link had other things in mind…**

**Pit, Samus, and Ike: WHAT?!**


	6. Unnecessary Intrusion

**XXX**

Pit's eyes narrowed. "Hades."

The god's smile got wider. "Pit."

Pit got up from his seat, looking at him warily. "Here to strut some more?"

"Or are you looking for Zelda?" Daisy said. She moved to stand in place next to Pit. Taking his lead, she did not draw her weapon just yet. "She's in the rec room."

"Pshh, I don't care about her," Hades said to Daisy, waving her away. "She couldn't get me in the Underworld, and she can't touch me here."

Daisy inched closer to Pit. "Didn't she take away his voice, though?" she asked him.

Pit barely heard her, his eyes latched on the being that stood in the middle of the forward. "What are you here for, then?"

But Hades merely ignored him. He started walking around the room, watching the TV that Ganondorf was still watching or smiling down at a scowling Ganondorf just to annoy him. Dark Link walked back into the behind a flushed looking Peach, wearing a fresh shirt and his face washed clean. He saw Hades, noticed Pit's threatening stance towards him, and saw his sister a few feet away looking in the god's direction and twirling a strand of hair through her fingers.

Staring at the curious Hades all the while, Dark Link crossed the room to his sister. Peach followed him. "When did _he _get here?" he said with disgust. He turned to her then, fully comprehending the look in her eyes she was giving Hades. It was a look that startled him like no other—it looked as if she was undressing him with her eyes. "And what's the matter with _you?"_

Dark Zelda continued to play with her hair. She looked like thirteen year old seeing a cute crush for the first time. "He's… kinda hot…"

Dark Link stumbled backwards in surprise, but Hades must have had super hearing or something. From across the room Hades locked eyes with her and smiled seductively, making his smooth way over to where she stood. Face to face with her, he raised an eyebrow, as if liking what he saw. Taking the strand of hair from Dark Zelda's fingertips, he laid her tangled hair gently onto her shoulder, looking intently into her eyes all the while. "You're lucky I'm more than available, darling," Hades said in a low undertone.

At once she was enamored by his charm. She looked down bashfully. "Oh my…"

Dark Link, realizing what was happening, looked at Dark Zelda pleadingly. "SNAP OUT OF IT!" When Dark Zelda didn't draw back from Hades, Dark Link fell to his knees melodramatically. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Peach blinked at the figure on the floor in surprise.

Hades seemed otherwise unperturbed by Dark Link's episode up until he heard his helpless yell on the floor. He closed his eyes, snapping his fingers sharply. In another instant, Dark Link was gone from the floor, vanishing completely. Opening his eyes again, Hades reverted back to Dark Zelda, taking a fluid hand and bringing up to caress the open skin of her arm. "Now. Where were we?"

Somewhere in the other section of the room, Pit and Daisy looked on, not really knowing what to do with the awkward situation that was unfolding in front of them. Finally, Pit cleared his throat loudly. "Excuse me?"

Hades' hand moved up to her shoulder, and Dark Zelda's breath hitched up in surprise. "Oh—!"

Daisy, still next to Pit, sagged in disbelief. "Oh, geez…"

Pit took her gently by the arm. "Let's go. We should find reinforcements if he decides he wants to try anything. Besides, I don't want to watch them do—whatever they're about to do."

Daisy frowned. "But what are they about to do?"

As Pit struggled to find an answer, Hades and Dark Zelda had commenced in their business. Hades took Dark Zelda's hands in his and began planting small kisses on each of her long fingers, taking great time and care. "Aren't _you _charming!" Dark Zelda said, blushing.

"….what?" Daisy said, not seeing his appeal at all.

Hades looked up at her coolly. "The most charming bit in the Underworld." He brought one hand up to stroke a thumb down the side of her face, his eyes strangely debonair and enchanting to her. "And you, my dear, are the finest piece of Dark Magic I have _ever _laid my eyes upon."

"URMAGURD I'M GONNA BE SICK!" Ganon exclaimed, bolting from the couch into another room. Pit had forgotten he was even in the room.

Still, the two watched the relationship unfold from the other side of the room. He wasn't really disturbing anyone, Pit reasoned. Though he was back from the dead, he wasn't causing any trouble. _Now._

"She's very fluent with mind control," Daisy pointed out of the blue.

"Oh, it's not mind control," Dark Zelda said, answering Daisy's previous question. "No, I'm not doing a thing-!" Dark Zelda swooned, landing right in Hades' arms.

"Hey, don't worry, hon'," Hades said to her. "I've got you."

"I didn't think she was mind controlling him," Pit said to her, finally snapping out of it. He stepped out of room with Daisy right behind him to find Link and Zelda. "I thought he was for real, though… he _does _have that flair about him.

"Flair….?"

As Peach had predicted, they found Link and Zelda in one of the corners of the rec room, but thankfully not doing what Pit thought they had been doing at all. Instead, the two were playing Frogger in one of the beat up gaming systems; Zelda berating Link every time he killed the frog.

"Stop killing the poor frog!" Zelda yelled at him as Pit and Daisy walked in the room,

"I'm not trying to!" Link told her. After a moment, the game reset, and Link started the game again, narrowly missed being hit again by the vehicles on the screen.

"You suck at this game," Zelda said, crossing her arms.

By this time, Pit and Daisy were next to the arcade game with them. "Um, guys…?" Pit began.

Link scowled at the screen at Zelda's remark. "Well, if I suck so bad, why don't _you _play?"

"Maybe I will!"

"Guys!" Pit said louder, catching their attention. "We've got another problem here in the game room."

Link and Zelda looked at the two expectantly.

"Hades is back," Daisy explained, and immediately Link and Zelda followed them into the weapons room to get suited up, leaving poor Frogger behind to die all over again.

XXX

The four of them paused at the doorway in shock. Pit was turning a faint shade of green.

"What the heck?" Link said.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Pit said. He rushed out of the room.

"OMG! SO CUTE!" Peach exclaimed. Why she was still there, Daisy had no idea.

"I know!" Dark Zelda said, smiling up at Hades. He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Ganon jumped out a window.

"Cute?" asked Daisy, looking at the two in confusion. "With THEM two?"

Hades put the back of his against his forehead. "You okay, hon'?"

Dark Zelda's eyes sparkled when she answered. "Oh, I'm fine-!"

Suddenly Daisy felt sick. "I'M gonna be sick…"

Pit returned from the bathroom and looked to Daisy, Link and Zelda. "Well? What should we do?"

Hades conjured a bouquet of purple orchids from thin air. He held them out to Dark Zelda with one hand, the other one still holding her close. "You never saw Dark Magic by the likes of me before, have you, darling?"

"Oh no-!" Dark Zelda said, taking the flowers and looking at him in adoration. "I haven't! You're so amazing-!"

Suddenly Dark Link appeared at the doorway, having not disappeared into an alternate dimension like Pit had assumed. Seeing Dark Zelda in Hades arms, he dropped to the floor. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Again, Hades flicked his hand, and Dark Link disappeared. But this time, not only did he disappear, but Pit and Daisy did as well. Eyes still on Dark Zelda he said, "Those distractions. Can you believe them?"

"No, I can't…." Dark Zelda smiled at him suggestively. "Now that we're alone—"

"Oh, no you don't!" Zelda said, drawing back her arrow. "We don't want you guys here romancing each other in this Mansion. You need to go." Beside her, Link drew his sword.

With a distressed sigh, Hades looked at Dark Zelda apologetically. "I'm sorry, hon'; I really should have handled this better." In another moment, the two vanished out of the room in a cloud of black smoke. No one else in the room had seen them leave, because Link and Zelda had disappeared form the room, as well.

**XXX**

**Samus: So I'm assuming that Hades ISN'T gay?**

**Me: yup.**


	7. What is Only the Beginning

**A/N- O****ne thing before you read on:**

**I didn't put much detail into the monsters that came and attacked the Mansion the last few days. In reality, they are just the Underworld forces you might see in the Kid Icarus game. But this is my story, my perspective. I kept my descriptions vague so that my reader could instead make up an image in their own minds for their personal enjoyment. So go ahead. USe your imaginations. Make them as nasty or as ugly as you feel. But I like putting my characters through Hell—figuratively and literally. And through Hell they will trespass.**

**XXX**

"Did he really just run off with my Dark self?" Zelda exclaimed.

"Yup," Link replied.

"And I can't believe he just—appeared like that—and – ugh!"

"I know," Link said.

Zelda noticed Link's half-hearted reply to her outraged remarks and turned to him. Link was staring off into the distance at the edge of a rocky cliff; its face tumbling down before him hundreds of feet below. She met him there, struggling to comprehend the sight they help before them.

The land before them was dry and infertile; not a plant could be seen and not a river was in sight. Instead, streams of lava traveled across the landscape; riverets of red against hard beige and gray rock. Mountains rose up to meet the fiery orange and red sky; stark and imperious against the horizon, Smaller hills of rocks lay scattered along the barren, rocky landscape, indistinguishable shadows of _things _walked crawled of fluttered among them, deformed looking and unnatural.

But if only that was all. Floating of flying through the sky were tirades upon tirades of Underworld forces, the same monsters they had fought in the Mansion earlier that week. They were flying high enough to where they couldn't be seen, but even so, the thought of so many being around them was no thought less of terrifying.

"What is this place?" Zelda whispered to no one.

"The Underworld," Pit said bleakly, voice rising from somewhere to her left, further down the rocky plateau they stood upon. Daisy stood behind him, her hazel-green eyes wide and shocked. "Hades transported us to his very domain, a place where I hoped I would never see again." Pit stuffed his hands further into the pocket of his jeans, staring into the sky dejectedly. "We should get off this mountain-thing as soon as possible, before those Underworld forces spot us."

"And then what will we do?" Link asked, turning to face him.

There was no hint of a challenge or spirit in the hero's voice; only humble inquisition to him being the leader in this situation. Unsure what to do, Pit looked to Daisy, her eyes, though they vulnerable, regarded him with complete, unwavering trust. He knew the landscape, a little; enough he hoped to get them out of there as soon as physically possible. He just hoped it would be enough. "We find a way out of here," Pit replied. "And try to see if we can make it out of this place."

XXX

Pit wiped the sweat form his brow weakly. "So… tired…."

Daisy placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. When he turned to her, she gave him a hopeful smile. "We can't stop now, Pit! We have to find Hades in this place."

They had agreed to start there, to find Hades and confront him, to force him into teleporting them back to where they belonged. The only problem with that plan was that Pit had no idea where Hades lived; the Lord of the Underworld did not live anywhere that he knew of.

Pit cast glare at Zelda and Link behind him. "This would be a lot easier if I wasn't the only one _fighting _these guys."

Link put his hands up in defense. "Hey, you said you had it covered."

"Did it seem like I had it covered when I almost got mauled by that Syren?"

Link looked to the ground. "Sorry. I'll help next time."

The four of them had traveled aimlessly through the rock landscape for more than a few hours by now. They plowed forward up a steep incline of the land; the sky was dark now; though there was no sun or moon or stars to be seen. They had passed the area with the lava streams by now; at this time, Pit was so relieved that the ground was a cool enough temperature for hi feet to handle his unhelpful Rainbow sandals.

Daisy clutched at her stomach. "Gosh, I could kill for some food right now."

"Yeah, Pit; do you know where we could get find some food?" Zelda asked him.

"Pit itched his head. "Well, it's not like I plan vacations here. I don't exactly know the layout of the land." He sighed. "This would be _so _much easier if I knew where Hades would _be…._"

Link stopped, and Zelda did too. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING?!" Link exploded.

"Umm…" Pit began.

"Hey, calm down," Daisy told Link, stepping in for him. "He's made it this far without getting us killed."

Link continued to stare at the two angrily. "I would at LEAST like to know where I'm going. Isn't there a map around?"

Pit looked at him in disbelief. "Of the Underworld? Yeah, I don't think so."

Meanwhile, Daisy had turned around to study the lay of the land ahead of them. To their right, near the dark crevice of some hole in the ground, was a sign. Sure enough—

"Hey, look guys! It's a map!" Daisy exclaimed, pointing to the sign.

"See?" Link said, as the four of them of them walked over to wear the map stood. "There's a map for everything. There was even a map for the insides of a giant FISH in my game. That's how I got out."

"There's never a map for any of my games. Just arrows. Arrows were way easier. But there are no arrows here, since Lady Paletena always put them down for me so I'd always know my way."

Link rolled his eyes. "Well, MY goddess didn't baby me the entire way. There are also puzzles, traps, trials, _and _enemies for me to fight on top of that!"

Pit gave Link a flustered look. "She doesn't baby me! She just guides me."

"Boys…" Daisy said warily.

"I didn't get ANY guidance!" Link exclaimed. "I had to figure out everything myself! And my goddess can mess with you to the thought of SUICIDE."

"Well, at least you only have the three goddesses in your world!" The boys had stopped now, and Pit continued, gesticulating wildly. "I have so many, and sometimes all these voices in my head make me feel like banging my head against the wall!"

"Well—"

"BOYS!" Daisy exclaimed. Both of them stopped and turned to her in surprise. Daisy, like Peach, rarely raised her voice, but when she did, she demanded attention. She took a deep breath. "Is this really the time for this? There are more pressing matters at hand than which one of your quests are harder, or who has the most tragic backstory!"

"Actually…" Link began, "I think we should set camp for the night. It's getting dark. We don't want to attract attention, right?"

"Yeah," Pit said, looking around. "Where should we camp?"

Zelda yawned. Leaning her head against Link's shoulder. "Is it really counted as 'camp' when we have no supplies?"

"No," Link said. "But we have to set up somewhere. Someplace sheltered, at least, since we don't exactly have tools for a fire."

Daisy wandered uphill in the direction they had been going before. "How about over there?" Once they had all gathered around her, she pointed to the place she had found; a hole in the side of the foot of a mountain just down the hill and some ways past. "There's a cave. We could go in there."

"Sounds good," Pit immediately. Link gave him a doubtful look. "We'll check it, out of course. But if we hurry now, we'll get there before it gets too dark."

Pit and Daisy made their way down the side of the mountain. Sharing dubious glances, Link and Zelda soon followed suit.

XXX

"I'm almost too tired to go to sleep, I think."

The sky outside was drifting past twilight. Link and Zelda lay in one corner o the cave against the wall; Zelda curled against Link with her head in his lap, and Link sitting half upright, awake because he had volunteered for the first shift. Pit had almost collapsed in exhaustion himself before he noticed Daisy. She was wide awake, sitting up with her knees held captive by her arms. She stared off into the distance, outside the cave.

Pit moved himself to sit beside her. "It's been a long day. Is there.. something on your mind?"

"Not really. Just…" She curled up tighter, looking down now. "This whole thing is so new to me. I'm not used to adventures like this, like you and Link are." She looked up and smiled at him wearily. "I hope we make it home soon."

Pit smiled back. "Me too." He thought of his painfully empty stomach, and of the food that no doubt would no doubt be waiting for him when they came back. "I've never been out here like this, though… No supplies, no food… I feel anxious to make it out of here, because right now, I just feel so trapped."

"Why?"

Pit sighed. "I've never actually traversed the Underworld on foot," he said quietly, so Link wouldn't hear. "Last time I was here, I was in the air. Now, I can't fly." Pit looked to the ground. "We aren't in our territory anymore. It's Hades', and he's not going to be so happy when he finds out we're in his domain."

Daisy slumped. "Thanks. That just made me feel so much better."

"Sorry," Pit said guiltily. "I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine," Daisy said lightly, but he knew that she was trembling on the inside. "I guess everyone need some instance in their life when they don't know what's going to happen next."

"I'm sorry," Pit told her again, scooting closer to her. He wanted to comfort her but felt awkward; he didn't know how. "I got carried away. All of this is new to you… and I forget sometimes. This isn't a game, a movie. This is survival now, so you need to watch your back while we're here."

Daisy didn't give a reply, but lay her head on his shoulder. "We'll get home soon," Pit told her. "Don't worry."

Pit didn't want her to worry. So badly he wanted her to trust him so she could continue being the small, competent, optimistic girl he knew. He wished he could say something, do something, to assuage her fears completely.

But he could not think of anything.

"Link's taking the first shift," Pit said. Daisy nodded. Hoping his actions helped, if only just a little bit, he leaned over and pecked her on the temple, the place right below the hairline and slightly above her ear. She gave him a smile without looking at him, still staring into the dimming sky that lay before them. Pit stayed with her until she fell asleep, setting aside her fears for the moment to get some rest. Pit then closed his eyes, at peace.

XXX

_All alone, on the edge of sleep_

_My old familiar friend comes and lies down next to me_

_And I can see you coming at the edge of the room, smiling in the streetlight_

_Even with my eyes shut tight, I still see you coming now_

_**~End of Part One~**_


	8. Of What is To Come

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo, or its plethora of characters.**

_~Beginning of Book Two_

**XXX**

The sky was bright and pale; a less red color than the day before. Link thought the early morning pink was a actually a nice sight. He had high hopes of getting out of that place that day.

He woke up Pit and Daisy. The two snuggled against each other, not wanting to get up. When Pit at last opened his eyes, he was startled to find his arm over her torso, laying very close to him. Pit flinched back, and Daisy woke at once. The two gave the other embarrassed glances as they got up from the ground.

Link walked over to the other side of the cave. "Zel, we need to leave now," he said, nudging the other on the arm.

Zelda mumbled something and opened a bleary eye. "Morning already? Ow," she said, rolling her neck, "Sitting up against a rocky wall isn't the best position to fall asleep in."

"The ground wasn't much better," Pit said across the cave, winced as he stretched his back.

Link walked over to the cave entrance and stared at the sky, where shadowy creatures and grotesque figures flew and squawked, fighting amongst themselves. Zelda came up from behind him.

"I'm so hungry, those monsters up there actually look good," Link said mournfully.

"I wouldn't risk it," Pit said behind him. "Meat from creatures of the Underworld can't be good for you."

"I know," Link said stepping back to face him.

" Don't talk about food," Daisy moaned. "I'm too hungry."

"You can't possibly be thinking about eating those things!" Pit exclaimed, wide eyed.

"No," Daisy said. The four creeped out of the cave, Link and Pit with their weapons drawn and ready up front. "But I _am _thinking about breakfast, and steaming eggs and bacon ad waffles with syrup…"

"Mmm," Pit said, smiling. "Waffles."

"I miss the Mansion's cafeteria," Daisy said.  
"And all of its glorious food," Pit agreed.

"And coffee," Zelda said for the first time in a while. "With cream and sugar and muffins on the side—"

"Seriously guys?!" Link exclaimed, turning on all of them. "Talking about food won't make it appear from thin air!"

"Sorry," Pit and Daisy both said. The four trudged on to the west, ducking beneath the shadows of the mountains to keep out of sight from hungry monsters above. Surprisingly, none were to be seen anywhere, not even when the sky became bright and redder as the day progressed. The land on the ground was eerily quiet.

"It's almost _too _quiet," Link said, looking around warily.

"We haven't been attacked in hours," Pit said next to him.

Then, Dark Pit, from out of nowhere comes SWOOPING DOWN FROM THE SKY FASTER THAN A DIVING BIRD AND KIDNAPS DAISY! Pit aimed his bow at the point where he had just been a moment before.

"WELL THAT'S JUST WONDERFUL!" Pit yelled.

Link facepalmed. "CAN'T YOU BE MORE ORIGINAL, NINTENDO?!" he shouted angrily.

Pit whipped to him. "I wouldn't—"

THEN DARK LINK POPS OUT OF THE SHADOWS BY THE MOUNTAINS AND KIDNAPS ZELDA! Link rushed over to the shadow of the mountain where Dark Link disappeared, but he and Zelda had vanished.

"SON OF A—GODDESS DAMMIT!" Link yelled.

Pit was still shocked. "I can't believe that just happened…" He looked to Link, who was still kicking the wall in frustration. "You need to calm down before something unexpected but totally expected happens to us."

"CALM DOWN?!" Link raged, stomping towards him. "IF IT WASN'T FOR THAT CURSED UNDERWORLD RULER NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING!"

Suddenly a chasm opened up before them,and from its depths Underworld forces came crawling and flying out at them. Pit took up his arrow again and Link charged with his sword, and the two began battling immediately

"This WOULD happen," Link muttered, thrusting out with his sword stab an Underworlder in the stomach. The thing screeched and evaporated in a cloud of purple smoke.

"One thing you should know about this world," Pit said to Link behind him. Link ducked as a creature swiped at him. Pit twisted around and smacked it hard with his bow, before continuing "THE GODS CAN ALWAYS HEAR YOU."

"YOUR GODS ARE MENTAL!" Link shouted. He swung at a prospective creature to his side, its arm detaching from its body and dropping to the ground. The creature cried in agony, and with another swift movement it was decapitated. "I HATE THIS PLACE!"

Pit shot furiously, reloading arrows with superhuman speed. "Well, we're going to have to deal with it is we're going to save Zelda and Daisy!"

Link finally calmed down, taking out his anger on the creatures around them. "Fine…"

The forces surged closer. One of them, a huge, four legged creature, swung at Pit with its over sized head. Pit dodged. Link plunged his sword in the center of his face, and the creature slumped to the ground and disintegrated.

"They're coming closer," Pit said, armed with only his bow.

"Hold on; I've got this," Link said. He pushed Pit to the side and tossed his gale boomerang at the enemies, leveling a big portion of them down. Pit broke apart his bow, transforming it to a pair of knives for melee attacks.

Soon the rest of the forces were cleared. Pit and Link took in the sight of the empty clearing, breathing hard. The forces had ceased crawling out of the chasm, though the cragged pit didn't close back up.

Pit snapped his bow back together, and Link beside him sheathed his sword. "He can definitely hear us now," Pit said. "Hades controls the creatures in this world, and he's not going to let up now."

"Why is he so bent on attacking us?!" Link said, throwing his hands up. "Why won't he just leave us alone?"

"It's probably because he's bored," Pit said, itching his head. "He loves creating chaos and causing destruction. He loves to make the few and the weak even weaker; he takes great pleasure in watching me stumble."

Link stepped over to him and put a hand to his shoulder.  
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lash out on you."

"It's fine." Pit stared off into the distance. "I should be apologizing myself. We wouldn't be here is it weren't for me."

"We wouldn't be here if it weren't for Hades," Link told him. "It's his fault."

"But my history with him _made _him pull us into his territory," Pit insisted. "For what? He must be planning something. And what would Pittoo want with Daisy, anyway?"

"Excuse me, who?"

"Dark Pit," Pit said. "My opposite. He and I have fought a few times, but nothing major… I thought he'd be on my side after the War, but after a few days he just… left. I didn't know where he'd gone, but I figured after a few weeks he'd be back. But he never did, until now. I guess I was wrong about him."

"But why would he be on your side?" Link asked. "Isn't he—well, evil?"

"Not exactly," Pit said, trying to explain.

"Pit, he just _kidnapped Daisy. _That doesn't seem evil?"

"No, no; it wasn't like that. He's my opposite, but he doesn't fight for anybody. He's not evil, but he doesn't fight for good, either. He's laid off ever since I defeated Hades the first time, but… _why _ would he be working for him now? Is he possessed?"

"We'll know when we find him," Link told him. "Right now, we have to keep moving."

"Yeah," Pit said. "Let's find Zelda and Daisy, and get to the bottom of this mess."

**XXX**

**A/N: A little bit of randomness to stir things up. The meddlings of Dark Pit and Dark Link were completely my idea. Along with the random pit of Underworlders. I'm pretty sure Pit and Link both LOVED those ideas.**

**This chapter came out to be a lot shorter than I thought. Just think of it as an introduction of what is to come, I guess. A special thanks to my dedicated followers, BipolarIke and Ruby 1996, for the funny input and encouragement, and to 23Blenders, for the honest reviews and opinions. You guys really are awesome.**


	9. Caresses and Kidnappers

**XXX**

Dark Zelda crossed her legs. "You really know how to treat a girl."

"It comes from experience, darling," Hades replied, further kneading his thumbs into her back. Dark Zelda groaned, her eyes fluttering shut. "If you happen to be the Lord of the Underworld, you learn how to move in subtle, powerful ways."

"Powerful, yes."

She leaned further into his chest in the couch they shared. "For instance, how did you get them into the Mansion?"

"Easy," Hades murmured. "I control the Underworld, I control my forces."

"Then how did you know to send them to Pit in the Mansion? I mean, you're down here, and he was on earth, so . . ."

"Gods automatically have access to angel's thoughts," Hades replied. "It is their duty to serve us. For now, they serve the goddess of light, but that will soon change."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You will see, my dear." He had ceased massaging her back. "Better?"

"Much," Dark Zelda said, turning over to him so that now they were face to face. She smiled at him mischievously. "You say you're subtle, but you're the one who whisked me here to you domain moments after we met."

Hades smirked at her, putting his hand on her hips, slowly and meticulously working his way down to her thighs, the side of her legs. "Are you complaining?"

"Not at all." She leaned forward and kissed him, pressing her body against his. He _was_ power, absolutely and uncontrollably, and his powerful hands handled her roughly as she sank deeper into his arms. She held his face as they twisted, and after a few beats she pulled away. "What are you going to do to Pit and Link now?"

Hades looked at her with half-lidded eyes. "You ask a _lot _of questions. It's getting on my nerves."

"I know," she said, brushing her lips upon his.

He relented. "Maybe I'll mess with their heads a little bit, shake them out of their comfort zone to show them who's in charge. After all, they've been living in paradise for almost a year now; not only Pit, but Link and Zelda and all their little friends, as well. I felt the need to wake them up from their happy little peacetime period—prepare them for what's going to happen next."

"Oh." Hades could tell Dark Zelda was holding something back.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Your plan is brilliant, don't get me wrong. I don't have a problem with it. It's just . . . " Dark Zelda's dark tinged lips pouted slightly, and she turned her gaze to meet his again. "I just wanted to make sure Link and Zelda suffered horribly and painfully, is all."

Hades smiled and pulled her closer to the point where she was directly on top of him. "Like how?"

"Hmm . . ." Dark Zelda fingered the lining of his toga thoughtfully. "Kidnapping Zelda always works. As well as stabbing Link a few times. Things my brother would be able to do if ever you got the chance to employ him."

His smile widen into a grin. "Then that's perfect, since I kidnapped Dark Link here too. He's going to attempt to do exactly what you just told me."

"Really?" Dark Zelda pursed her lips. "Is he here now? I don't want him to visit or anything. Not when we're in the middle of. . . this." She slid her arms beneath his head.

Hades traced a thumb against the side of her face. "Don't worry, darling. I've got it all covered. Dark Link won't be crashing through anytime soon. In fact, though he's already kidnapped Zelda, he's miles away; he won't be here any time soon."

Dark Zelda's eyes grew wide. "He's already kidnapped Zelda? Wow. You're evil _and _organized."

"I know," Hades said, Dark Zelda left small kisses on the side of his jaw, one after the other until she reached his lips. Once she made contact, he enveloped her into him, kissing her deeply, craving her touch in his surging sea of darkness.

XXX

She had to admit; she screamed like crazy.

Up in the air she was taken, getting farther and farther away from Link, Zelda and Pit until she could see them anymore. Her kidnapper was gripping her—hard—around the waist, angled towards the ground and mountains as they flew higher and higher into the air.

Which brought a question to her mind; her kidnapper could _fly?_

She screamed louder, terrified, yes, but not caring if she broke her kidnapper's eardrums in the process.

"Will you _shut up?_" he shouted at her. "You're not about to die!"

"How am I supposed to know that?!" Daisy screamed.

"If I wanted to _kill you_, I wouldn't have _kidnapped you_!"

"Because that makes perfect sense!"

They flew for a few more minutes, but Daisy didn't scream anymore. Instead, she tried closing her eyes, but that didn't it erase her knowledge that she was tens of feet in the air, the air whistling in her ears and whipping her hair around her wildly. She opened her eyes again, trying to calm herself down. The dry landscape zoomed by below her, mountains made of big, broken boulders thrown on top of each other to build up like skyward swords into the sky. They looked perilous, pointy, and Daisy was quite relieved that her captor was clutching her so tightly.

Finally they approached a rocky mountain summit, one that looked like every other mountain they had passed. Lower and lower they flew, until her kidnapper finally deposited her on the ground unceremoniously.

Before he could his bearings, she kicked him in the stomach with as much strength as she could muster. He stumbled backwards and fell, holding his midsection in pain.

Served him right. Daisy stood up. "Who do you think you . . . are . . .?"

Stepping towards him, she got a better look at the guy who looked exactly like Pit.

Hazel-violet eyes watched her warily. He sneered. "You like what you see, princess?"

"You're . . . you're not . . . " No, he just looked a lot like him; same facial structure, same hairstyle, even; though where Pit's hair was light brown, his was a charcoal black. He even wore the same clothes as him, but his v-neck was black and his jeans were gray and ripped in some places, and his low hanging pendant was purple pink instead of clear blue. The Pit-look-alike stood up slowly, watching her all the while. He was even, Daisy noticed, Pit's height.

"I'm Dark Pit," he said. "Heard of me?"

Daisy blinked. "Um, no."

"Seriously? Wow. It's like I don't even exist anymore." He stepped towards her. She stepped back. Dark Pit sighed. "I'm going to have to tie you up, now. I was hoping we could just get this over with."

Daisy didn't like the way he said that; like he didn't care one way or another. His eyes had a permanent bored tone to them, along with his voice; low, dry, and nonchalant. His bow was strapped up on his back; his quiver held a plethora of bows. She wondered if he was as formidable an enemy as Pit was.

She continued cautiously, "Why did you kidnap me?"

Dark Pit looked at her without expression. "Do I really need to tell you?"

Daisy felt heat rising to her cheeks, involuntarily. What was she doing? She remembered how he had held her around the waist before she came there, and felt violated. "Are—are you working for Hades?"

Dark Pit rolled his eyes and unclipped a circle of cords from his belt. "I really didn't kidnap you to stand and chat."

"I'm not going to let you tie me up."

"I'm not going to let you escape."

Daisy took out her golf club that was tucked behind her waist on her brown leather belt. She swung at his head deftly. Dark Pit ducked. "I'm not going to make it easy for you!"

He shoulder checked her, and they fell to the ground. Daisy turned to her side, trying to break free from his hold. "Why—are you struggling?" he grumbled. She was really putting up a fight, nonetheless; kicking and thrashing in his grasp. "Where in the world would you go, anyway?"

His voice was belittling and mocking. She didn't like it, or the way he had her pinned on the ground chest first. Daisy shoved him back with her foot, and he gave a grunt of pain; but she was still pinned.

"Stop struggling!" he said, trying to get her wrists behind her back. "You're on top of a mountain in the middle of the Underworld! It's virtually a desert here; at least —_oof!"_ Daisy had wrenched free from his hold and had shoved him back first to the ground. Her golf club was lying nearby to the right, and before he could react, she grabbed it and started whacking him. "Gah—!" _whack! _"Stop—" _whack! _"-hitting me!" _Whack!_

"You—" _whack " _aren't –" _whack! "_going to—" _whack! "—_kidnap me!"

Repeatedly Daisy hit him in the chest, shoulders and the head.

Dark Pit groaned in pain, his eyes closed. Daisy got up from him. He didn't move. She stepped back, golf club still in hand. Blood trickled from his nose and a cut from his head. Still, he did not move.

Daisy lowered her golf club, turning to the edge of the mountaintop to find a way down. She was no Peach, she said to herself.

"Stop where you are."

Daisy cringed, turning around slowly. Dark Pit faced her, bow raised and arrow notched directly at her. His face was hard and with loathing. "Now. I'm the one with the arrow, so I wouldn't make any more moves to escape. Walk over to me—slowly—or else I'll shoot you in the leg."

Daisy took a few steps towards him.

"And drop the club."

Daisy sighed. Before she surrendered her weapon, she took pleasure in the fact that Dark Pit's nose was still bleeding and broken. The rest of his face was pretty messed up, as well.

The metal club clattered to the ground. After she had walked a few more steps away from the club, Dark Pit walked over to her, still on guard; unclipping the cord from his belt. Coming behind her, he kicked her knees, making her kneel.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry," Dark Pit said. He didn't sound very sorry, Daisy thought as he started tying her wrists together. "Just an extra precautionary measure." After her wrists were bound, he tied her ankles, and soon Daisy was on the ground, glaring at him angrily.

"So now what?" Daisy said. "You still haven't told me why you kidnapped me."

"Will the talking ever stop?" Dark Pit said, whipping out a handkerchief out form his front pocket.

Daisy started. "What are you—"

He stuffed the handkerchief in her mouth, grinning. "I couldn't have you calling for help. Hope you understand." Daisy's only reply was a glare in his direction. Something flashed red in his irises; it was brief but scared her nonetheless. He started stepping backwards to the edge of the mountain. "I'll be back," Dark Pit said. "I know you'll probably miss me."

And with that, his wings flashed with white purple light, and he soared off.

Daisy frowned, or did the best that she could with a gag in her mouth. So much for not getting kidnapped.

XXX

**A/N- I've created new words.**

**Did you know that 'meddlings', 'riverets', 'facepalmed', and 'creeped' aren't actual words? Yet I'm sure they are used all the time.**

_**Anyway,**_** this was the first chapter I have done without our two main characters in the thick of things. I will be doing this more later on, changing between Dark Pit (or DP as me and 23Blenders refer to him as), and Daisy; Dark Link (or DL) and Zelda. **

**All in all, these next few chapters are going to be intense. I can't even explain . . . **


	10. Radioactive

XXX

Pit woke up to Hades.

Singing.

"_It's a wonderful day in the Underworld, when an angel is going to DIE!"_

He sat up, startled. Link looked at him blearily. "He's in my head again," Pit told him. "Not a good sign."

"Um, who?"

"Hades." Pit sat up and looked up to the pink-orange sky. "Hades! Where are you?" he shouted. "Where are Zelda and Daisy?"

After a few moments, Link asked, "Did he reply?"

"No." Pit picked up his weapons from the ground. "But he's definitely close."

"Right . . ."

Pit looked to him, his hair matted on one side from sleeping on the ground and his eyes wide but still dazed from being woken up from his abrupt wake up call. "I'm not crazy . . . I can hear them in my head."

"He was singing? Wow. How have you not killed yourself yet?"

"_He will come to his DOOM by none other than me!"_

"You get used to it, I guess," Pit said, wincing. "I think he's taking a shower."

"How—how do you – can you _see _him or something?"

"No!" Pit said, holding his palms out in front of him. "No! I can just hear the way his voice echoes."

"Oh."

"Yeah. He sings badly, too."

Link picked up his weapons. "At least Zelda is a good singer."

"_HE WILL DIE WITH THE ELF SOON ENOUGH!" _Hades bellowed.  
"HE'S NOT AN ELF!" Pit cried to the heavens.

"GODDESS DAMMIT I'M A HYLIAN YOU GAY BASTARD!" Link shouted at nothing.

"_And the two unfortunates love talking to themselves and cursing at the sky. Oh! They are going crazy..."_

"I hate you Hades . . ." Pit murmured.

"Are we going to kill him or not?" Link asked.

"We should save Daisy and Zelda first . . ."

"I figured Hades persuaded Dark Pit and Dark Link to take them." Link sighed. "I HATE MY LIFE."

Pit started walking on to the west, thinking. Link followed him, "No, Pittoo wouldn't be working with him. And I doubt Dark Link would be in league with Hades . . . he thinks he's a pervert too."

"Okay, can you explain the meaning behind 'Pittoo' again?"

"Well . . . you know, Dark Pit was made after me, so technically he would be Pit, number two. Pittoo?" Pit smiled weakly. "Get it?" Link looked at him like he was crazy. "Never mind . . ."

Link smiled to the sky. "Anyway, going back to Dark Link. I think he wouldn't like Hades because he ran off with his sister." His voice had a darker tone to it. "But if Hades gave him the opportunity to kill me, at any chance, then he'd gladly accept the job. So he could still be working for him, especially since we're not at the Mansion anymore. Just being in the Underworld with no rules gives him an excuse to kidnap Zelda to get to me." At Pit's wide-eyed look, Link went on gravely, "You don't know my dark side."

Before Pit could answer, another group of Underworlders sprung up at them, emerging from a crack in the rocky ground before them, just the same as yesterday. Apparently, Hades was getting bored of the heroes' chit-chat. Pit and Link slashed away with no problem, accustomed to the monster's tactics and patterns by now, since they had first arrived two days before. As they fought, Pit continued the conversation uneasily, talking even though it was two against twenty. "I don't get it. Pittoo doesn't really side with anyone, so I wouldn't think that he's working for Hades. Maybe the same thing goes for Dark Link too? Besides, wouldn't he care for his sister?"

"I guess." Link sounded doubtful. He dodged a taloned swipe, and momentarily the talons were severed off by Link's Mastersword. Within minutes, the monsters that had surrounded them had been defeated; not a trace was left of them. He sheathed his sword. "Let's just get this over with."

Pit put his bow across his chest. "Any ideas on where they might be?"

"Well YOU'RE the one who knows the way."

"I don't know where THEY are. Besides, I've never been here on foot."

"Oh, it's a shame nobody cares." Pit, startled, looked upward towards the voice that spoke. He didn't know how it was possible, but sure enough, there he was; standing at the edge of the mountain next to them, smirking, his arms crossed and his dark wings casting an angel-shaped shadow on the ground.

Dark Pit.

Link followed his gaze and frowned. "Oh. So YOU'RE the unoriginal dark side."

Pittoo's eyes blazed. He leaped from the mountainside, diving headfirst, gliding towards them smoothly with his arms to his sides. Pit stumbled back a few steps, shocked. His previous observations had been correct. Pittoo was flying—by himself.

"I'M NOT THE ONE WHO'S UNORGINAL! HE'S THE COPY!" Dark Pit yelled from the air, pointing an accusing finger at Pit.

"WITH THIS AGAIN?! Pit yelled as Dark Pit soared over them. "YOU spawned from ME!"

Link just looked at the two with detached interest. " . . .da heck. . .?"

Dark Pit levitated in front of Pit, his wings the only thing holding him aloft. "He crossed his arms. "Wow, you're stupid."

"I AM NOT!" Link had never seen Pit rage before. "AND IF ANYTHING, THAT MEANS YOU'RE STUPID, TOO!"

"This is ridiculous. You two fight like an old married couple," Link told them.

"DO NOT!"

Dark Pit turned his attention to him, his feet finally coming to rest on the ground. "Psh. You make me laugh, elf."

Link unsheathed his sword and advanced towards him. "Call me elf. One. More. Time."

Dark Pit smirked. "What are you gonna do about it? . . .Elf."

"YOU—" Link started towards him.

"Wait, Link; no!" Pit tackled him, holding him back. "You can't hurt him! We need information from him!"  
"THAT EMO BASTARD CALLED ME AN ELF! I'M HYLIAN, DAMMIT!"

" . . .emo?" Dark Pit mused, up in the air again from Link's advances.

"I more saw him as goth . . ." Pit remarked, letting go of Link once he calmed down.

"Do I look like I have piercings and eyeliner, Pit Stain?" Dark Pit raged.

"It's hard to tell when you're so high up," Link called out to him, grinning like a cat.

Dark Pit swooped closer, looking pissed. "Well, wouldn't _you_ like to know—"

"Anyway!" Pit interrupted. "We should probably move on." He rounded on Dark Pit. "Where did you put Daisy?"

Dark Pit looked up innocently, failing at that. "Hmm? You say something?"

Link leveled in on him, glaring. "Just tell us where she and Zelda are, and we'll leave the Underworld."

Dark Pit shrugged. "Yeah, I kidnapped Daisy. But you're not going to find her anywhere in . . .this realm."

"WHAT?!" Pit exploded. "WHAT'S _THAT_ SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Link's bottom eyelid twitched.

Dark Pit sighed. "But it was really all for nothing. Dark Link intercepted me and then Daisy was ...replaced."

"WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?!" Pit yelled.

"She went falling . . ." Dark Pit put simply.

"SHE WHAT?!"

Link was trying to stay calm. "Where did you find Dark Link?" He twitched again.

"On top of a high castle. That's where Hade—oh wait."

"Where Hades lives?" Pit said, pouncing at his mistake.

"Wait what NO."

"Just tell us where he is." Link twitched again. "It's not like you're with him." And he twitched again. "... ARE YOU?"

Dark Pit looked surprised. "You mean, 'with him', like in a relationship? Wow. Nintendo has people thinking everyone is gay for each other these days."

"That's not what I meant." Link twitched again. "Just tell us where Daisy and Dark Link is, and we'll be on our way." The whole left side of Link face twitched this time. Twice.

Dark Pit appeared to think about it for a second, " . . . No, I don't think I will." With a flap of his wings he soared off high into the now-red afternoon sky, getting smaller and smaller until he disappeared completely.

"WHY YOU—" Pit shouted, running in the direction which he took off. When Dark Pit disappeared, he stopped glowering at the sky. "YOU ARE SOOO LUCKY I CAN'T FLY RIGHT NOW!"

The left side of Link's face twitched twice more. "The next time I see him—" twitch—"I'll rip his head off—" Twitch, twitch.

Pit turned to him, noticing his terse voice. "Whoa, man." He stepped over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You okay? _I _don't even get that annoyed when he's around . . . is there something on your mind?"

Ripping away from his grasp, Link started walking in some arbitrary direction. "Let's just move on." He twitched again, continuing forward.

Pit stepped back, appalled at Link unusually callous behavior towards him. He thought, during this journey, after all they had been fighting through here in the Underworld, Link had seen him as something as a friend. He supposed he was wrong. "Okay then." Pit jogged to catch up with him, avoiding rocky obstructions that Link passed unheeded as he stomped through the desert. "Just don't worry. Pittoo can be infuriating. . . He exists to contradict me. We know that Dark Link is at Hades' castle now, and that Daisy is probably near there too."

"THEN WHERE THE HELL IS HIS CASTLE!?" Link exploded, rounding up on him. "I DON'T THINK YOU REALLY KNOW, BECAUSE YOU SEEM PRETTY CLUELESS WANDERING AROUND THIS GODDESS DAMMED PLACE!"

"YOU WANT TO KNOW _WHY _I DON'T KNOW?" Pit said, anger rising. "IT'S BECAUSE THE LAST TIME I WAS HERE, I COULD FLY! BUT NOW HERE I AM, THE ONLY ANGEL IN THE WORLD WHO CAN'T FLY BY HIMSELF! I'M JUST AS LOST AS YOU!"

"THEN WHERE THE _HELL_ HAVE WE BEEN GOING FOR THE LAST THREE DAYS?" Hills and hills of mini mountains stirred around them, shadows creeping from the dark forms of rocky mounds of the valley that surrounded them.

"TO THE WEST, LINK! BUT IT'S REALLY HARD TO TELL IF WE'VE ACTUALLY BEEN GOING IN THAT DIRECTION, SINCE THERE'S NO SUN HERE TO GO BY IN THE FIRST PLACE! BUT WE _HAVE _KEEP GOING IN THAT WAY. IT'S EXACTLY WHAT DAISY SAID WE GO IN RIGHT BEFORE SHE . . ." Pit hesitated, memories of her bubbling up in the forefront of his mind. " . . .got kidnapped."

Link twitched again, but not without a thoughtful pause towards the other's feelings. He was having a hard time with their situation, just like he was; like Link, Pit was no doubt tired, stressed, and starving for the food that would not come. Link felt a gnawing guilt in the pit of his stomach for yelling at the kid. He began to apologize . . .

. . .before the hero was interrupted by an Underworlder leaping up at him, pouncing from one of the rocky mounds with its four hind legs. Its claws extended towards Links face, ready to rip him to shreds . . .

. . .until it was shot down by tree arrows in the back. The creature shrieked loudly, disappearing before it even landed on the ground. Before Link could even thank the angel, they were surrounded by more crawlers of the valley.

The creatures were far away enough that Pit could still deal with them with his bow. Link brought out his as well, and the two fought together, side by side, shooting furiously. When a monster broke through their tight defense, however, their long range streak was interrupted. Link smacked the creature on the side of the head with his bow, and Pit broke apart his to defeat it with his dual knives. Watching Link's back, Pit covered him while he brought out his sword, and the melee attacking commenced.

They ripped, tore and sliced through the countless amounts of enemies that pounced at them form the rocks. They were out of breath long before they stopped coming, but that didn't slow them down; nor did the wounds they received on their faces, arms, or legs, or the hunger they had been fighting for three days. All that kept them going now was the hope of seeing a sky that was not red, and seeing the ones they loved safe.

Link and Pit fought, quite literally, for hours. Only then were all the Underworlders defeated.

The sky above them was a deep, blood red; shifting slowly to a dark, smoke-gray. It was nearly nighttime before Pit killed the last Underworlder.

Link collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily, fighting exhaustion up until the point he passed out from physical strain. Pit ran up to him and picked him up, carrying him to a nearby rock crevice that was big enough for the two of them to hide out for the night.

XXX

_I'm waking up, to ash and dust_

_I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust_

_I'm breathing in the chemicals_

_I'm breaking in, shaping up_

_Checking out on the prison bus_

_This is it, the apocalypse_

_I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones_

_Enough to make my systems blow_

_Welcome to the new age..._

_XXX_

**A/N- Yeah, so I know it's not the end of the section just yet, but I really wanted to put up this song, 'Radioactive', by Imagine Dragons, suggested by EpicFire123. I felt it was appropriate to Link & Pit's struggle, and so I posted an excerpt of the song here, and named the chapter after it too. It's such an amazing song. The music, the words, all of it are just so gripping and intense. I think, if the words to the song don't fit, then the music definitely does, especially in this fight scene I put here.**

**I apologize for the language. **

**Did Dark Pit kill Daisy? Is Dark Pit working with Dark Link? Is Dark Pit working for Hades, or is he just being an ass? And what happened to Zelda? What plans does Dark Link have in store for her? Find out, next chapter of 'Milk & Honey' and 'A Dish Best Served Cold'.**

**It'll all explain itself, in the end.**


	11. A Dish Best Served Cold

Zelda turned her head to the side just in time to avoid her head being scraped with the force of being slammed into the rocky surface head on. Even still, the impact scratched and tore at her skin.

"Hello, Dark Link," she grumbled. "Nice seeing you again."

"And you as well," Dark Link replied, his hands tight on her shoulders. She could swear that he was smiling. "I missed this, you know. Why don't we talk like we used to?"

One of his elbows pressed her chest against the wall, and his hands began tying her wrist together with thick rope. From what she could see, they were in some kind of dungeon; there were no prisoners from what she could see, but the atmosphere was as still as it was depressing; no light, no air, and no hope.

"What do you want with us?"

"My revenge," Dark Link said, pulling her back just to toss her to the ground. This time, with no hands to protect herself she fell face first, impeded only slightly by her shoulders. She winced in pain. "For bringing me here in this goddess damned place."

She pressed her forehead to the ground, her eyes shut as she asked, "What are you talking about?"

"The fight with Hades? You making him angry? It's your fault. All of it. Now, in his domain, we are _all _at his mercy."

Zelda's eyes flickered around the room for possible escape routes. For some reason, there were none; no doors, no windows, no wooden trap entries, evenl just wall to an endlessly high dungeon ceiling. It was as if Dark Link had transported them to a place beyond the base of the mountain when they had disappeared into the shadows. Something about that unnerved her; her not knowing where she was, and being alone with Link's enemy, made her all the more anxious. All her observations took her less than a second, and she focused back to Dark Link. "I thought Hades would be the one who employed you."

"He did!" Dark Link stalked towards her, and Zelda scooted back. "He found me here, to do his services, or else it would have been my life! That bastard! He even has my sister! Did you know that?"

"No, I didn't," Zelda said. The only thing she could do to really keep this contained was to keep him talking. There was no telling what he'd do if he stopped.

"The job he wanted me to do wasn't all that bad," Dark Link said, backing Zelda against the wall. "I can't say that I won't have fun with this. Still, the nerve of some people . . ."

"What's the job he wanted you to do?" Zelda asked, though she knew the answer would undoubtedly be unpleasant. She was trapped, now; there was no way out.

"Oh, you know. The usual." He aimed a kick to her side.

Zelda slid to the ground. That was unexpected. Wincing, she retaliated, aiming to kick him in the legs. Dark Link dodged out of the way, planting another kick in her side. Zelda winced again. She dare not cry out; that was, of course, what he enjoyed most about their little encounters.

This had not been the first time Dark Link had kidnapped her to get to Link. His hate for him had not died when they had stayed at the mansion, she realized with another painful kick to her side. It had only subsided, so that he could be allowed to stay and look good following the Mansion Rules. He had been lying when he said that he had been forced to carry out Hades' deeds; this was suggestion made to him by Hades while he was in the Underworld. And if there was anything Dark Link loved most about the world, it was causing pain towards Link. And by doing that, he often aimed for Zelda.

Of course, Zelda thought, Dark Link was wearing the heaviest of combat boots.

He kicked her again. "I wonder—" _kick – "_how long—" _kick –_ "it will take –" _kick _– "your boyfriend—" _kick— "_to save you this time?" Zelda grimaced from the final attack. "A week? A month?"

"He'll come" Zelda muttered.

"What was that?" His heavy boot stomped heavily on her stomach as he bent down to hear her.

Zelda half gasped, half coughed. She swore something inside of her had just broken. "I said," she said painfully, "he'll come. He always does, no matter what, and when he does, he always beats _you._"

Dark Link seemed to pause to think about that for a second. His face took on an unusual calm demeanor, as if thoughtful and attentive to her words. But she knew he was only toying with her. Her words had only enraged him further, twisting into unfathomable anger as he yelled, stepping back to pay her with another kick to the side. "Not this time," he snarled. Another kick.

Despite all her pain, Zelda smiled; a smile of great victory and malice, all at once, because in her heart she knew she had already won. "You mean, because your new boyfriend Hades is helping you out, you'll succeed? Because you've never been able to defeat Link by yourself. You never will."

Dark Link stopped looking at her squarely, before he stepped behind her to yank her up by the hair. Zelda gasped, shutting her eyes.

"YOU THINK YOU'RE SO SMART, HUH?" Dark Link yelled in her face. Spit flew and she had to clench her mouth tight. "YOU AND YOUR BOYFRIEND, RUNNING AROUND WITH THE TRIFORCE OF WISDOM AND COURAGE, SAVING THE WORLD?!" He slammed her face first into the wall, still grabbing at her hair. He said in a low tone, a quiet voice in the surface of her fears: "Well, it's time you were wrong for once. It's time you lost." He slammed her into the wall again, and again, and again, until Zelda gave a cry of pain. "It's about time!" he exclaimed, and she knew that behind her he was smiling. Tears trailed down her face, and she cursed herself for not having her hands to be able to so magic; cursed herself for getting kidnapped, _again;_ cursed Dark Link and his stupid combat boots and his stupid affinity for walls; cursed the world, cursed everything.

Nose smashed in and blood running everywhere, Dark Link didn't stop until the cut on her head grew wider and wider and she went unconscious.

"Selfish bitch," Dark Link spat, and dropped her to the ground.

* * *

Zelda woke up from blackness, opening her eyes to more blackness. Dark Link was gone. Her neck ached and her nose throbbed, and she could feel the dried blood that was caked beneath it. Her side was sharp with blinding pain. On the floor, she sobbed, but she couldn't wipe her eyes. Her arms were still bound behind her back. There was nobody else around; no comfort at all.

XXX

**A/N: Come on, people. Review. I know you want to.**

**This happens about a day before Link and Pit have their big fight in the Underworld valley. Next chapter will be about Day 3 of being in the Underworld, for both Dark Pit & Daisy, Dark Link and Zelda. Then I'll continue back to Pit and Link. Sorry for any confusion. **

**I'm not a sadist. Really, I'm not. But sometimes I think that they don't push the limits in these video games enough. So I push the limits in this story.**


	12. Collateral Damage

**A/N: Yes, I know. I've been busy, not just with organizing this and its chapters, but with school. It's been very suckish. And I know suckish isn't a word. **

**But here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy!**

**XXX**

"Wakey, wakey," Dark Link said in a falsely bright voice.

Zelda pried an eye open, scowling at the voice in the darkness. Even though she couldn't see him in the distant sunlight from the ceiling high above, she knew the voice quite well by now.

"Hades wants to see you and I, and the progress we've made." The next thing Zelda knew, she was being pulled up by her hair in that annoying way Dark Link seemed to love. "Together we can see if he has any . . . suggestions." She got her bearings, wincing at the pain surely imbedded forever in her skull. He stared back at her, grinning like a hyena at all the wounds on the queen's face. The day before Dark Link had come back to seize his chance to do even more damage, taking pleasure to twist Zelda's face into something more unrecognizable. The purpling bruises and dried blood from her face she had received from couple of solid kicks and punch or two. A scar was forming down the left side of her face as a result of a small knife Dark Link had so cleverly hid from her sight up until a quick tongue had gotten her into trouble. Despite everything, though, he had not harmed her in a way that would seriously injure her. Yet. She had thought about the things he might have in store for her; things that would require her full health to cooperate, and the thought gave her a sick, horrible feeling in her empty stomach.

Her hands still tied behind her back, she did the first thing that came to her head at his word spat in his face. "Let him keep his suggestions," Zelda hissed. "I'm not going with you."

Dark Link looked at her in surprise for a second, sneered and back handed her to the ground. His grip on her hair released, and she fell to the ground. "Working up a little spitfire, eh?" he menaced, stalking towards her. "I like that."

Zelda glared at him through slit eyes, where a black eye already had appeared from yesterday's session. "Why are you working for him, anyway? What is he paying you to harm Link?"

"Nothing at all," Dark Link said, close enough to yank her up by her elbow. "Now are we going to do this the hard way, or the easy way?"

Doing it the hard way required energy that she did not have. Keeping steady on her feet seemed like hard enough itself. Dark Link smiled. "Ah, now she understands," he said, leaning closer so that Zelda could see every scarlet passageway his eyes led to. "Soon, you and everyone you know will be in the hands of Hades himself. And trust me, I wouldn't miss that for the world."

"What would it mean if everything you knew burned down to the ground because of him?" Zelda whispered. She thought of the chaos and terror she had seen in Hades eyes the first time he had appeared in the Mansion. "What would it mean to you if you died along with us?"

"Then at least you would die along with me," Dark Link said vehemently, and shoved her into the wall.

But instead of slamming into it face first, she went through it—and tumbled to the other side into deep red, afternoon air, in the shadows of a completely black, perfectly intact Coliseum-like Arena.

XXX

It was a while before Link opened his eyes again. When he finally did, the sky had lost its deep red color; it was now completely devoid of any light.

All his wounds were bandaged up with some rough, cotton-like wrappings. He sat up.

"Sometimes I forget how strong humans are." Pit's voice sounded from somewhere ahead of him in the darkness. He couldn't see him. He figured that Pit had heard him get up. "We were fighting for hours; and yet you didn't collapse until the very end."

"I couldn't let you handle all of those Underworlders by yourself."

"But no human should be able to stand his ground for so long."

Link was silent. He didn't press the matter any further; sometimes he surprised even himself. "Did you wrap me up?" he said.

"Yeah. I used my scarf. You were bleeding pretty bad, but it wasn't anything too deep."

"What about you? Did you get hurt at all?"

"I think I'll keep my condition from you until the morning. Then you can just see how bad I look right now." Link could feel him smiling in the darkness. "I'll just tell you that I'm not looking much better than you." With a pause, he added, "I could've died if you hadn't been fighting with me."

"Don't worry about it." Link was glad they couldn't see each other, or else his next words would've been too awkward for him to get out. He looked down. "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier."

"It's fine. We're just tired of being in this place. And I'm just worried about Daisy . . . I mean, we don't even know where she is."

Link sighed. "You're new to this whole 'damsel in distress' thing, aren't you? I've dealt with this situation multiple times, but every time I do, I feel like I just lost a chunk of my soul. So I know what you're dealing with."

"I just feel so helpless," Pit said. Link had never heard his voice sound so dejected. I just—" His voice caught. "_Have_ to get out of here. I need to, Link. All these things—are just not natural for me. I'm bleeding for the second time in my life. We keep on getting attacked by Underworlders every second of the day—and there's no rest from it. I don't get any sleep down here. I'm scared for my life. All we've been doing is wandering around for the past three days looking for someone who doesn't want to show himself." Pit paused, then added in a smaller voice, "She slipped right through my fingers . . .and now she could be dead, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"Bad guys always say that to make you feel helpless. Dark Pit probably didn't drop her."

"But how can you be so sure?" Pit asked before he could say anything more. "The Dark Pit I knew would've never worked for Hades or kidnapped someone I cared about. He was only after me every time we faced each other. Before he would have never gone so far, but now . . .there's something evil inside of him, I know it; I saw something in his eyes today that reflected more red than his normal gold. It can't be him, it just can't be . . ."

"Pit . . ." Link crawled over to him. The space between them was small. The knelt down next to him; in his proximity he could see the angel had his knees pulled up to his chest, looking down. At Link's movement his blue eyes looked up for a moment in surprise; they seemed to illuminate in the darkness. Then he looked away.

"I know. I'm acting like a child."

"No, you're not. You're just worried about Daisy, and getting out of here, that's all." Link was very careful not to say what was really on their minds; their fear of dying had never seemed so near to them. "You're freaking out for the first time because you're bleeding; welcome to my world. This is what being human is all about." At Pit's heavy sigh, Link went on, "Look, sorry for being so forward. But sometimes you just have to make your own path. All we can do is keep pushing on and hope we can make it out of here; relying on our strength to help us out of this dammed place. As for Dark Pit . . . maybe he's possessed." Link's eyebrows furrowed. "I bet Hades did it. But either way, whether Dark Pit was possessed or not, don't get yourself down too much. If he has Daisy, then he wasn't much of a friend in the first place. And if Dark Link has her by now, then we can just kill two birds with one stone that way. We'll find Dark Link, murder him, get Daisy and Zelda back and be happy for the moment." Link's voice by now was bitter.

Pit shifted beside him for a moment, saying, "We don't have to have to murder him, though. Maybe just defeat him and then steal his knife or something."

"Pit, he could've stolen _Daisy _from you. Do you really want another incident like this one? Sometimes you need to kill."

The angel was quiet for a horrified moment. "What are you saying? He's – he's a mortal! He won't be able to come back once he's dead!"

"And If he can't come back, he can't steal back Daisy again, can he?"

". . .I'll always be around to protect her, Link. I just . . . can't imagine destroying someone's life like that. Completely."

Link sighed impatiently. "If it helps, he's not really human. He's pure, dark. _Evil._ Ganondorf made him with only one purpose: for him to kill me, no matter what it takes, even if it meant kidnapping Zelda. So I'd kill him in a heartbeat."

"If you want to kill him, then I'm not going to stop you." He paused. "I guess I wouldn't know the reasons behind your anger."

Link looked away. "It might be human nature," he said quietly. "If someone wronged me or my country I'd try to hurt them in the worst way possible. Of course, who am I to speak for the whole human race? I'm no one, nothing, especially after what I've done."

"That sounds harsh," Pit said. "And violent. I couldn't imagine . . . But no, really. I get it. I get that he's your darker self and you want retribution. There was even a time where I wanted to do the do same to Dark Pit."

"No. I don't think you really do understand. Because it's not just that." Link paused. "There was a man who I knew when we were kids. We were the same age, did the same things, got into the same trouble. But we grew our separate ways, and he started working for Ganondorf, as a mercenary. He even kidnapped Zelda once. What do you think I did?"

Pit did not answer.

"After he killed dozens of people form my hometown, dozens of people I protected, I sought him out in his own home and killed him." He gave a bitter laugh. "And to think, we grew up together."

"Link, that's. . . that's terrible. I- I don't know what in the world is wrong with you."

Link hesitated, as if trying to find out himself. He frowned at the memory, which now wouldn't get out of his head. "His name was Seth. He had white blond hair and a knack for getting out of trouble. He had a family," he said, remembering the day he had killed him. "A wife and two sons. I killed Seth, even though I _knew _I would be making those two kids fatherless, even though I _knew _I would be making turning a wife into a widow. I killed him, and I _swear _one of his kids looked exactly like me when I was young. I just don't know what the heck is wrong with us. Like I said, maybe it's—humans in general. We're just . . .lost. So _don't _tell me just how strong I am, or how noble I am, or whatever, because we both know how untrue that would be."

For a long time Pit didn't answer. Link didn't think he would. The kid was too innocent, he thought, to comprehend all of the evil the world really had to offer. How friends could cut you deeper than any evil overlord ever could. And how sometimes revenge was not as sweet as they said.

And then he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. "You _are _strong, Link. You're the most noble human I know, and you're valiant and honest and good. I wouldn't worry about the human race, because people like you are a part of it."

Link was speechless. Even though he told him not to tell him all of those things, even though he had just named off his most wrenching deed he had done in his life, the angel had praised him. And he had seemed sincere, so sincere that even the simple words which he was about to utter could even make up for the amount of gratitude that Link felt at that moment:

"Thank you."

Pit relinquished his grasp. Link could feel him smiling in the darkness. "I'll take the first shift, okay? Go and get some rest."

"Pit, I was unconscious for hours; I've already had enough rest—"

"No, seriously; I've hot enough in me to stay up for a few more hours. You get some rest."

Link gave in, scooting back to lay down on the solid, rock ground. Closing his eyes he dreamt for the first time in days.

He dreamt of the good days with Seth.

XXX

**A/N: Reflecting on this chapter, it must be the worst thing in the world to be woken up by the same person who just got through torturing you the day before. As for Dark Link; I figured the only magic ability it made sense for him to possess would be teleportation through darkness and shadow. This is the way Dark Link was able to get in and out of the prison and why Zelda couldn't find a way out herself, and also the way that Dark Link was able to send Zelda into the wall and send her into a completely different place. **

**The first part of the chapter wasn't a part of the original story. I wrote it because I needed a little tie-in to what's about to happen next.**

'**Seth' is COMPLETELY OC! I just made him up to kinda make the original backstory for Link all the more real. Did it work?**

**HIS NAME WAS SETH! (sobs)**


	13. Puppetmaster

**XXX**

Hades coked an eyebrow. "You really had fun with this one, didn't you?"

Dark Link smirked, saying nothing as the Ruler of the Underworld made a neat circle around her, inspecting her as he went. Beside him and Dark Link stood Dark Zelda, though a little off to the side, seemed to appreciate her brother's work as much as Hades did. Her face was alit with some misplaced delight.

He stopped suddenly, reaching out to grab a hold of her face. His hand on her chin felt warm like a charged battery; ready to explode. His violet skin swirled and pounded like a giant star; the tattoos on his arm changing with every instant. When she looked at them for more than a few seconds, she could see what they were made of; grotesque depictions of horrible deaths and mass sufferings. Once she saw a man choking on his own spit in the middle of a gas-ridden war field; the next instant she witnessed the after effects of a huge bomb—corpses lying in alleyways with detached limbs, bleeding out; stillborn babies with massive defects. Zelda gasped and looked away.

Hades smiled and flexed his arms. "You like what you see, darling?"

Zelda looked at him briefly. "You're sick."

"That, I am." Hades said without hesitation. He turned his arm over, the one that was not holding her chin. "You see this?" he said, referring to a large, black tattoo that spanned his entire forearm above the rippling cords of his muscles and veins. Zelda refused to look. Hades, seeing this, forced her to look down.

It was a scene from her nightmares. The image of Dark Link beheading Link with his sword, splatters of inked blood everywhere. Pit, chained with his chest against the wall, his wings being ripped from his body by a dark angel—Dark Pit. The two dark twins grinning manically, enjoying the other's pain. The two heroes dead, or on the floor, dying. And the whole thing erupted in black flames, to be replaced by another revolting, irrelevant image. Fear gripped her stomach, making her want to hurl. Hades led her head to face him, and he smiled at her obvious nausea.

"You see, darling; I _am _torture. I _am _war. Nothing that Dark Link could ever think of could ever be as bad as what I've already thought of for your two heroes. So, you keep on thinking of a way out, and keep believing that your precious heroes are going to save you—even though they aren't. You, and Link, and Pitty-Pat and Daisy will never be able to escape from me." He took in Zelda's cuts and bruises, turning her face to the side to take in the long cut that went from her temple to her jawbone. The blood had long dried by now, but the wound still hurt. She sucked in a breath, trying not to look into the god's life sucking eyes.

Hades gave a low whistle, impressed. He turned to Dark Link with a smirk, letting go of Zelda's face in the process. She stumbled back, taking quick, shallow breaths, willing herself not to be sick all over the place. But then again, what was there to be sick about? She hadn't eaten in two days. She looked towards the ground to keep the world form spinning. It was death, and it was over whelming.

"You've done this before, haven't you?" Hades said. Zelda looked up from the ground, seeing Dark Link give a nonchalant shrug, but couldn't help himself but smile at the god's praise. Despite everything, Zelda rolled her eyes. He really _was _courting the bastard. "Now if only Dark Pit could do the same to our sweet little Daisy." At Dark Link's quizzical look, Hades explained, "I have the angel mind controlled, but he still resists me, the little prick. If only I had his soul, I could be able to get him to do whatever I want to Pitty's little girlfriend, but I can only go so far. The only problem is, the farthest I've gotten is kidnapping and tying up the girl. He's not ruled by the same anger as you are."

"Where is he now?" Dark Link asked him.

"Off getting high off poppy seeds, or relaxing a hot spring, no doubt." Hades replied with an annoyed wave of his hand.

"Do you have to control his mind all the time?"

"No," Hades said, without thought to Zelda listening in right where they stood. The three of them made their way to the stairway that led to the throne that overlooked the arena, Zelda in tow by Dark Link behind them. "He's here on his own accord, actually. All that persuaded him to come was when I told him I could give him back his power of flight, ever since he lost it. Now, the only time he can use it is when he's working for me – ah, here's Goth Boy now."

Sure enough, strolling out from one of the open doorways was Dark Pit. Zelda hadn't been able to get a good look at him before she had gotten kidnapped, but she was able to now. True to his name, it was obvious that he was Pit's darker self; black chiffon, black hair, and even dark wings. But where Dark Link's gait was overconfident and careless with the sway that came from practiced swordfighters, Dark Pit's was loping and smooth. Walking across the arena, he carried a towel and half a melon, tipping the liquid of the latter into his mouth with one hand. He didn't look like he was going in any particular direction.

"Hey! Goth boy!" Hades exclaimed at the stairs. "Where are you going?"

Dark Pit lowered his hand, looking over to Hades with an uninterested look on his face. "To the hot springs!"

"Where did you just come from, then?"

Dark Pit lifted up his melon with a smirk. "From the kitchens. I think you're almost out of Ambrosia, by the way."

Zelda actually saw Hades get red in the face, which she didn't think was possible with his purple complexion, or his personality, at all. Finally he calmed down, closing his eyes and pinching his nose in irritation. She thought she heard him murmur something like 'stupid, useless teenagers'.

"Dear," Dark Zelda said for the first time, placing a hand on the god's shoulder, "how about if you test Dark Pit's anger and your control abilities by putting him to duel against Dark Link?"

"Better than letting him wander around eating my food," Hades muttered.

XXX

Zelda watched as the two dark halves fought each other. Hades and Dark Zelda stood watching in rapt attention as Zelda stood aside, her hands still tied behind her back. They didn't seem to be paying her any attention, but any plans of escaping flew from her mind when she turned her gaze to the fighting arena.

It was hard to tell which one was better. Dark Link, forever fueled by his inner fury and selfish drive attacked the dark angel nonstop. But Dark Pit seemed to know his fighting style, his rashness and his openings. He dodged his attacks and parried each blow Dark Link attempted from all sides. He moved with detached smoothness that Dark Link did not possess. Although Dark Link had the advantage with the perfect weapon for the type of combat they were doing, Dark Pit knew his weapon well; he twirled his bow with a type of deadly grace that hit its target each time. There didn't seem to be an end to this fight, either; they kept dueling for what seemed like hours, never ending. They were both equally good as to never to receive a scratch from the other.

Yet Zelda wondered if they were on orders not to do so. I mean, it would only make sense. If they were fighting for his entertainment, if they were both a part of his master plan, then why would he let them kill each other? After Dark Pit had come back from the Weapon's Room on Hades' orders, he had unwaveringly remained on the defensive while Dark Link stung him like a bee, attacking only when the situation called for it. He did not want to fight. He did not want to be here. But every once and a while Dark Pit's eyes would grow an unnatural fiery red, and during these moments he would put on an extra burst of ferocity. These were the times, Zelda knew, that Hades was exercising his power over him. This was not just a duel. This was a test.

"I just don't see why you level your control on him all the time, dear," Dark Zelda murmured to Hades.

"I would, if I was able," Hades said wearily. "It's hard enough making him go from place to place, carrying out errands. Imagine how much of me it would take to have him under my control all the time."

_So_, Zelda thought, _He's not as powerful as he looks._

"You know, I have that power, too," Dark Zelda said to him. "If you need help controlling him to do the things you want him to—"

"No," Hades growled. His hair flowed with renewed energy, and his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. "There must be an easier way other than putting so much of _my _strength into—"

"That's _enough!" _There was a clatter of metal on ground, and Hades, Dark Zelda and Zelda looked up to see Dark Pit staring up angrily at their balcony. Dark Link, a few feet away, stared at him in surprise, lowering his sword.

Dark Pit pointed an accusing finger at the god. "I can feel you controlling me, Hades!" he shouted. His usually bored voice was sharp with frustration. "Every time I go out and do something for you, I'm aware. I'm tired of being your little puppet."

Hades regarded the angel below him, an eyebrow coming up to rest on his amused face. "And what do you think you're going to do about it? Escape? Because we all know the last time you tried to do _that._" A pained expression flickered across Dark Pit's face. "Just face it, Goth Boy. You're mine, and you're here, on your own. No amount resisting could shield you from _that._"

Dark Pit hung his head in shame, and for a moment Zelda felt bad for him. Though his decision to come to the Ruler of the Underworld was selfish, he obviously did not know that he would be stuck here in return. However bad the collateral damage was from his choice, it looked like he regretted it significantly.

Then the angel lifted his head daringly, glaring at the god. Zelda could feel the intensity of his gaze even from where she stood; it held a mixture of hatred and resolve. "Then I will fight," Dark Pit vowed. "I will fight you until there's nothing of me left to fight."

Hades only looked mildly surprised. He took one look at Dark Pit, smiled, and flicked his hand upward.

Dark Pit's eyes widened in surprise as Hades took over. His arms locked to his sides, and his body started twitching. His eyes rolled to the top of his head as he trembled sporadically. He collapsed to his knees, the muscles on his neck and hands straining as he held his head in blind pain. His face contorted in anguish, trying to fight whatever migraine or form of torture was going on in his mind but failing. He made incomprehensible gargling noises that sounded like choking, and his legs crumbled beneath him to kneel on the ground before Hades. His eyes were open but he could not see through them; the pupils were gone. Dark Link, a few feet away, stared at the angel in shock and horror.

And, just like that, it was over. Hades lowered his hand, and Dark Pit could breathe again; his head made contact to the ground in reluctant submission as he shuddered. He coursed unnerved fingers through his hair; they trembled slightly.

"Do you _really _think that now, Goth Boy?" Hades said, still smiling. His voice bordered on the edge of mockery and courtesy. "Because you came to me _willingly, _I control your mind, and any little images I decide to add in there as well. You _will not_ disobey me again, understand?"

Dark Pit did not lift his head. Hades took that for an answer, and his smile became a grin.

"Good. Now Dark Link." The doppelganger looked up at the god in wide-eyed fear. Hades chuckled for a second, before continuing in his deeply satisfied tone, "The heroes are almost here at the castle. I need you to get ready." Dark Link nodded quickly and made his way up the stairway, past the still kneeling Dark Pit. Hades turned to Zelda suddenly. "You thought I had forgotten about you, didn't you?" His teeth, peeking out from thin violet lips, were surprising white for an evil ruler. She thought inanely about Ganondorf, and how bad his mouth job was. And his _breath._ "But in fact, you're in for the best part!"

Somehow, Zelda found her voice in the midst of all of her shock and fear. "You're plan is never going to work," she said, as Dark Link made his way up the stairs to get her. "You just told me so much, and all I have to do is wait for Link and Pit to come find so that I can tell them what you're up to. They'll be able to save Dark Pit, too, and they'll be able to beat you, no matter what."

He didn't have the expression on his face most people had when they were threatened. In fact, all he did was keep grinning at her. "Yes, you think you heard my 'grandmaster plan', or parts of it, at least. You think when – or, more appropriately, if—your heroes come and rescue you, you'll be able to save the world. But tell me, will they be able to do that if you're _dead?_"

Zelda's breath caught in her throat, right as Dark Link grabbed her roughly from behind and dragged her down the stairs. Somehow, someway, she was going to die, and if that happened, Link would collapse. Their mission would collapse. And Hades would still be alive.

All of these thoughts came to her slowly, as if played on rewind. In her shock, she did not struggle. Dark Link dragged her away, back first, into the shadows of the Coliseum wall. Before she went, she caught a glimpse of Dark Pit, still on the floor facedown, still shaking. From where she was she thought she heard small, frightened gasps, almost like sobbing.

"Oh, Goth Boy!" Hades called. "I've got a little task for you to do…"

XXX

**A/N: The dialogue was lacking, I know, but this is one of the chapters that wasn't a part of the original story. All the moments of torture and kidnapping from the two dark halves were all added by yours truly.**

**I've always shuddered to contemplate what the bombings of Hiroshima has done to people of Japan. I once had to do a History Report on it in 8****th**** grade—and didn't. I took one look at all of the stats on Wikipedia and started crying. So I'm sorry if the description of stillborns was disturbing. I put it in there, not only to demonstrate exactly how serious Hades is, but to see if the things that scare me also scare other people (and by the way, the guy choking on his own spit from mustard gas was from what I've learned about WWI. I hate learning about war, but Hades is the god of it. Well, and death, but **_**still**_** ). He's the freaking god of the Underworld. He reaps the seeds of war every day. I thought it was time to show it.**

**I literally have no idea where Dark Pit and 'poppy seeds' came from. I might have been thinking about The Wizard of Oz or something like that. It kinda just swooped in from out of nowhere, and stuck. Like how Dark Pit swooped in from nowhere. Anyway, I might do something with that later. **

**As you can see, I love developing Hades' and Dark Pit's character. The fact that Dark Pit is the only one that can get Hades mad in his own home just made me and Epicfire123 laugh out loud, and I couldn't let it go. Hades isn't the type to get frustrated easy, and Dark Pit is definitely not the type to break down. But let's face it: this whole story is about breaking down.**

**As for the nickname Hades made for Dark Pit: that was definitely inspired from Kid Icarus: Uprising. Which I highly recommend for any SSB gamers out there.**

**Wow. Longest. Author's note. Ever.**

**XXX**


	14. Milk and Honey

**A/N: I figured since I already had this chapter typed up and ready more than two weeks ago that I'd just go ahead and post it up. Honestly, the ending to this story is a little obscure; I've needed to tweak it. But until then, enjoy!**

**XXX**

Being kidnapped sucked. Especially when you had been gagged and tied up by someone who looked exactly like you boyfriend.

Daisy was becoming extremely uncomfortable. Her bonds were tight, cutting off the circulation when she had fallen asleep and the next day had long passed into early afternoon, she saw in the sky a black-winged figure coming towards her.

Dark Pit.

He landed smoothly, eating something that looked like slices of a yellow watermelon. He held half of a melon in his other arm.

Daisy looked at him wide-eyed. She hadn't eaten in—what? Two days?

Dark Pit seemed to take no notice. He finished a melon slice, smacking his fingers and wiping his face with one arm, then chomped on to the next one. Across the mountaintop, Daisy glared at him as hard as she could. He continued to ignore her, settling on a large rock to polish off another slice. He tossed the rinds on the ground. Daisy had moved to glaring daggers by now, unable to speak because of the gag still in her mouth.

"Oh. Hey." He took another bite, juice dripping and splattering on the ground before him. "You look like you're hungry."

Daisy rolled her eyes, _No duh._

"Alright, alright." He got up and started walking over to her. Only steps away, though, he stopped, seeming to remember something. "But you _did _beat me with a metal club yesterday. It really hurt." He looked at her with apologetic eyes, but she knew he wasn't really sorry.

"Please!" Daisy tried saying, but it really just came out like 'Murgh!' She sat up straighter, trying to look as remorseful as possible.

"Okay, okay," Dark Pit said, seemingly giving into her wide-eyed look. He tossed a piece on the ground next to her, and bent down to take the gag out of her mouth.

She looked at him exasperatedly. Her hands were still tied.

Dark Pit grinned and took a small knife from his pocket. "Don't escape anywhere," he said blandly, sawing away at her bonds. When Daisy was free, she picked up the slice on the ground and ate it greedily. She moaned in content, delicious juice sliding down her throat. She closed her eyes and took another bite. Dark Pit smirked at her, like he knew something she did not. He sat himself on the ground across from her, sipping the juice from the half melon he had brought with him.

Daisy finished in seconds. After Dark Pit tossed her another slice, he said, "Your heroes are going to be in for the time of their lives, soon."

Daisy looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Pit and Link. Sooner or later they're going to pass out from all the effort of traveling the Underworld, searching for you. You know, if they don't die from all the monsters attacking them every other minute of the day."

Daisy looked at him, shocked. "You went and visited them? You know where they are?"

"Sure." Dark Pit regarded her with some amusement, and tossed her another melon slice like a dog treat. It landed on the ground. She disregarded it, focusing on the topic at hand. She went on, almost naively; "Are they okay? Are they almost here?"

"Why on earth would I tell you that? I only stopped there on my own standards, not to give you a progress report."

Daisy frowned, taking a bite of the yellow melon. She should've known better that he wouldn't give her any details of where he had gone the other day. And yet, she wondered. "Did you really go on your own accord?"

Dark Pit stopped drinking from the melon, looking at her. "Huh?"

"Stop playing stupid. You only kidnapped me because Hades told you to. You're working for him. So did you go because Hades told you to, or not?"

"Okay, so maybe I am working for him! So what!" Dark Pit lashed out at her so suddenly that she was caught off guard. Another look into his eyes told of that flash of red that had attacked him earlier. But maybe it was just a trick of the light. Maybe she was just hoping he wasn't as bad as she wanted him to be. After all, his name was Dark Pit. Perhaps it was time she believed the appropriateness of the name. "This situation is a whole lot bigger than you could ever imagine, princess. You don't know the half of it."

But there was uncertainty in his gaze. Knowing that she probably should shut up, but not wanting to believe that he was evil just yet, she asked tentatively, "But you're with him for a reason, aren't you? He's offering you something. I mean, you didn't harm Pit and Link. They have enough troubles on their own as it is, with the monsters." Daisy snuck him a glance. "You wanted to see if they were alright."

"I wanted to discourage them." Dark Pit spoke flatly, though he didn't deny he was checking on them. She felt a little more hopeful that they were still out there, surviving. Being left on the mountain top had given her some time to not only think, but to also worry. She had been offered food by her kidnapper, but Pit and Link wouldn't have had that luxury. She prayed that they would be able to hold on a little longer, if that's all it took to help them find a way back to the Mansion. She hoped that they would be able to find food, _somehow,_ so that they would have enough strength to defeat Hades, if not for her sake, then for theirs.

Dark Pit continued, "Those were my orders." He smirked at her then. "I told them I had dropped you while I was flying, and that you had died."

She took it back. If Dark Pit was mean to her boyfriend, then he could drop dead for all she cared. Daisy looked at him in horror, and Dark Pit said nothing more, just smiling at her like the way he did. She did not know what to think right then; if he only meant it as a joke to her or as cruel offense to Pit and Link. She didn't like it either way. She was starting to get nervous around him and his silence; wondered what else Hades might order him to do to her, and she wondered if he would do it.

Looking away, she picked up the yellow watermelon from the ground next to her and bit into it. Presently Dark Pit picked up the half watermelon again and drank, the present conversation no doubt done with in his head. Stealing a look in Dark Pit's direction after polishing off the last of her melon had her watching him tip the half melon juice into his mouth. There was no more of the yellow melon left. The liquid looked thick and syrupy, and good. Despite herself, she felt the inside of her mouth water for something more fulfilling than a few water-based fruits.

She set her finished rind on the ground, and before she could stop herself, asked, "What's that?"

Dark Pit stopped drinking, turning to her. "This is Ambrosia, also known as the Drink of the Gods. It tastes like a mixture of milk and honey, syrup and pineapple and every other delicious thing imaginable, all in a drink. It refills your health, making you feel like you can run a thousand miles and then some, and fills you up instantly."

Daisy's eyes had grown wide. "Where did you find that?"

Dark Pit just shrugged. He wouldn't tell her, but held the melon out to her. "You want some?"

Daisy, overcome with hunger and greed, nodded and took the drink at once. She tipped its contents in her mouth, the heavenly drink filling her with warmth and comfort. Dark Pit watched her as she drank. And drank. And drank.

When she was done, she felt more content than anything she had ever consumed in her life. It was all that Dark Pit had said it was, and more, tasting to her like lemon meringue and hot chocolate with whipped cream on top. All in a drink, like one delicious milkshake. She tasted the syrup there, though it was richer and sweeter than any earthly syrup she had ever had; running down her throat with a hint of powdered sugar as well. She licked her lips, supposing it tasted different to everybody. She felt rejuvenated, awake and alert now, though it didn't really help things since she was kidnapped; she didn't have the groggy, half-awake feeling in her body anymore.

"Feeling better now?" Dark Pit asked her.

"Yes," she said – then started coughing. She cleared her throat, about to thank him—then launched into another fit again. She dropped the half-melon, covering her mouth as her coughing ensued, each cough interrupting her attempt at breathing. Knowing somehow it had something to do with the melon juice or the Ambrosia, she glared at Dark Pit.

He put up his hands. "Don't look at me." He stood up, looking at her without expression, his eyes flashing red again. "You're the one who wanted to try it. Of course, I never said the drink was for mortals."

Daisy choked, struggling for air. Her throat was on fire; her insides writhed with and convulsed with the death she had just consumed. "What—will happen—to me?"

"Hard to say," Dark Pit said, walking further away. She was on her hands and knees now, suffocating. "Too much of the stuff for angels is poisonous to the point your insides decay. Burning you from the inside. Too much for a human . . ." He shrugged. "I've never have seen it before."

She couldn't hear him anymore. The drink was too much. Darkness crawled at the edge of her vision, and it wasn't because of the coming night. Fire flamed in her throat, and the dark images of the mountain and Dark Pit disappeared before Daisy passed out on the ground.

XXX


	15. Possessed

XXX

Her breathing had been labored for some time now. After a while he really couldn't take it anymore. Balancing the half-melon in one hand and propping her up on the ground with the other, he tipped the healing water into her mouth.

After a few moments, she still hadn't regained consciousness, and Dark Pit had a knack for being very impatient. But he waited. He felt like he should this time, having never needed to revive someone back to health before. He felt awkward himself, doing this, and helping her, but he knew that he could not go on to what he needed to do without returning to her to her full state. And he needed to make right what he had messed up.

He was relieved, at the most, that Hades was not controlling him at that moment. He was glad that the god did not have complete control of his actions at that moment, or else he would have still stood as Daisy suffocated at his feet. He knew that the god had ultimate knowledge over everything that belonged in his realm. And now, that even included him.

He did not want her to die. Not really.

He observed her in his arms in the way that a scientist would observe an intriguing specimen. As he worked to get the liquid into her mouth, he was beyond amazed that she was still breathing. He was not kidding when he told her that too much of the liquid for an angel could incinerate them. He was glad, that while he had been possessed, that he hadn't given her enough to kill her.

Daisy coughed weakly, her eyes fluttering open. Vague recognition stirred in her eyes, recognition that soon flowered into hate.

"Don't," Dark Pit said as she stirred in his arms. The beginnings of any accusation soon died in her throat when he said, "Just drink."

She obeyed, realizing that somehow this drink was not harmful, but helpful. Her hands at her sides went up to grip the half melon; her knees went up to support her herself, for he had freed her from her bonds. Their hands met; Dark Pit flinched away, and Daisy tightened her hold on the melon, looking at him in confusion.

"What is this?" Daisy said, speculating the gold liquid in front of her. She had a reason to ask—the drink was the same color as the life-threatening Ambrosia he had given her not to very long ago.

"Hot spring water," Dark Pit told her. "It has the healings powers that reverse the damaging effects of fire, acid, poison; most anything, actually." Daisy had stopped drinking, looking at the melon in her hand warily. "Ambrosia, too," he said quickly. "So it won't hurt you."

"How am I supposed to know that?" Daisy asked.

"Well, your insides aren't on fire anymore, are they?" Daisy didn't answer, still skeptical. He obviously wasn't trying to make a joke, but still. "You need to drink all of it to recover from the effects; so, bottoms up."

Haltingly, Daisy put the melon to her mouth again. The sky around them gradually got lighter and pinker, and next to her Dark Pit saw that despite how small and petite she was, she was actually going to live. She hadn't burned up and died yet, and that was the best thing that had happened to him in a while.

"You're so strong," Dark Pit murmured.

Daisy finished drinking, looked to him in surprise. "Say what?"

"Nothing," Dark Pit said. Suddenly he was acutely aware of how close she was sitting up next to him, and went to get up. He was very aware of her green-eyed gaze following as he did, asking a very obvious question.

"You're probably wondering," Dark Pit began, "why I'm saving you." Daisy gave no answer. Dark Pit just wanted to get it over with, "Well, to tell you the truth, I'm being possessed. By Hades. That's why I had fed you the Ambrosia, and that's the reason why I flew away after I had tied you up, because he had . . .called me." Dark Pit stole a glance at the girl. She had a curious expression on her face.

"He had called you?"

"Yeah. He can speak . . . through my mind. I don't know how he does but he has a certain hold on me that I can't get out of, and I pretty much can't resist because . . . you're not believing a single word I'm saying, are you?"

"Nope."

Dark Pit gave an exasperated sigh. He knew his time was limited; he had just stolen the hot spring water just minutes ago. If he wanted to fight back, then he needed to do it fast. "Look, I'm not being possessed right now. If you want to save your friends, you're going to have to trust me. We don't have that much time."

"Yeah, because the last time I trusted you went _so_ well," Daisy said sardonically.

"What in the world do you want me to say?" Dark Pit exclaimed, going out of his head.

"I just don't see how you expect me to trust you when you're the antithesis of Pit—"

"I am _not_," Dark Pit interrupted, "Pit's opposite."

"Well, you're not exactly his twin—"

"Don't even compare me to that tool," Dark Pit threatened, his voice growing dark. "It's a long story, but I'm not like Pit, or am I Pit's opposite. I don't know what Dark Link is doing working for Hades, but I don't work for anyone. _I'm not on his side."_

Dark Pit was serious. Daisy did not know whether it was her fear talking or not, but she had thought that he had said his last words with such intensity that she knew he was telling the truth.

He saw the change in her expression and took it as a chance . "After everything he's done to me, playing with me like a little puppet, I want to get him back. I don't like it when people take control of my mind; I don't like it when people order me around. This is the one time I am not controlled, and I need to use it now. All you're doing is holding me back." He held a hand out to her and she grabbed it, letting him get to her feet.

Her head felt stuffy like reviving from a head cold, and her throat scratchy and sore. But Dark Pit's movements were twitchy and excited as he moved to the edge of the mountaintop; signs of pent up anger and angst she had seen in a lot of the Brawlers at the Mansion before an upcoming Match. She didn't want to keep him waiting. "I need to return you to Pit and Link," he said. "Come here."

Daisy approached him cautiously. Dark Pit seemed to be scanning, scanning for . . . something. The unnatural light painted the landscape in an angry red slash, casting the rock summits in deep pocketed shadow. She knew that beyond that landscape lay the fortress where Hades resided.  
Although she hadn't seen the true measure of his power, she knew that Pit had beat him once before, but the battle had been grueling and consequential.

Daisy crossed her arms and looked to him. "You're not actually going to confront him yourself, are you?"

Dark Pit narrowed his eyes. "If I need to, then yes."

"But you can't!" Daisy saw the surprise in Dark Pit's eyes, but continued to plow on. "That's what Link and Pit are after, to take on Hades! So, if you're going to do it, do it with them, because there is no way you're going to be able to take on a _god _all by yourself, no matter how gay and retarded he seems."

Dark Pit actually chuckled at her last comment, a response that actually caught her by surprise. "Hades is definitely _not_ gay."

Daisy continued to stare at him. "You didn't witness the strutting party he had with Ghirahim had at 10 o'clock in the morning a few days ago."

"With who?"

"With - never mind. I'm just saying he's definitely not straight."

"Then he must be bi then, because he's found himself a new girlfriend, and they do _a lot_ more than just strut around the castle."

"Ew."

"But enough of that," Dark Pit said, realizing that they were horribly off topic. "If you want me to team up with the heroes, then I can; but for now, let's just worrying about finding them."

"Right," Daisy replied, looking back at him. His arms were crossed, and he looked at her with an expression that was virtually unreadable. "Err, how do we do that?"

"I can still fly," Dark Pit explained, looking down to the ground, suddenly uncomfortable. "One of the "perks" of being enslaved by the freaking Ruler of the Underworld. I can look for them better in the sky. But you can't, so. . ."

"Oh, right," Daisy said, coming to terms with what he meant, and blushed.

Dark Pit scratched the back of his head in that adorable way Pit does when he's nervous, sighed, and went over to her. He paused, willing his dark wings to jerk purple and white with the power of flight. The next thing she knew, they were soaring thought the air, the wind throwing her hair forward, into Dark Pit's face. The whole thing had happened so fast that it had taken her a moment to realize that she was in Dark Pit's arms.

Dark Pit stopped looking for the duo for a moment to glance down at his passenger. Daisy, he thought, was as light as a feather. She stayed huddled in his arms, shielding herself from the sight of the rocky landscape dozens of feet below them. She had closed her eyes and was . . . was blushing, the deep red staining her cheeks like ink.

Dark Pit began to make some snarky comment about this when an intruding voice invaded his mind.

_ Drop her._

Daisy opened her eyes, wanting to say something to break the awkward quietness between them. She started. His eyes had flashed a terrifying bright scarlet. "D-Dark Pit?" Daisy stuttered. "Are you okay?"

Dark Pit blinked at the sound of her voice. When he opened his eyes again, Daisy noticed his irises were back to their familiar gold. "I'm fine," he gasped, looking around wildly. His voice sounded unsettled for the first time she had known him. "It's Hades," he told her. "He's controlling me. Again. Gods, I had he wouldn't have noticed so soon—"

"What is he telling you?"

"I have to get you somewhere safe!" Dark Pit said, scouring the mountaintops for a flat surface, but there was none near enough. They had come to the flatlands; the closest mountain range by now was over a mile away. "I can't—"

"But you have to!" Daisy cried. She struggled to stay calm but it was hard, seeing the situation that she was in. "You have to resist!" she pleaded. "Resist him, so we can _beat _him!"

_ Drop her. Kill her._

Dark Pit gripped her harder and Daisy yelped in pain. He had closed his eyes now, trying to resist Hades' voice, but the voice radiated with such force that he could not ignore it. It echoed in the farthest recesses of his mind, influencing and taking control of every ounce of reason that had once been his own. It was like a disease, a poison; spreading and infecting during every second that ticked by.

"I – can't—"

"Dark Pit!" Daisy exclaimed, scared out of her wits. He opened his eyes. They were completely red.

"You're being controlled by Hades!" Daisy yelped. "You can't forget why we're here, Dark Pit! Why _you're _ here! You have to resist! You have to—"

Dark Pit let go. Her ensuing screams that filled the air held no effect over him.

XXX

**A/N: CLIFFHANGER!**

**I finally realized where I got that idea of Hades' tattoos from. It was really funny to me when I finally found out, because I had got it from this book I had been reading off and on because of school, and had completely forgotten about it until recently. It's from the Illustrated Man, from Ray Bradbury's creepy classic 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'. Eh, don't know if anyone really cares, but I thought it was funny, since the Illustrated Man severely creeped me out several times throughout the book, and then I just reincarnated him through this fanfiction.**


	16. Before the Fall

**A/N: **** This actually came out longer than expected, because I needed to do a lot of editing. But I'm pretty proud on how this turned out. Better than the original.**

**XXX**

"PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT! WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!"

Pit shot up, rubbing groggy eyes. "What happened? Did we get ambushed again?"

"LOOK! LOOK LOOK LOOK—ARROW!" Link was pointing at the ground. "AT YOUR FEET! ISN'T THAT THE ARROW YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT? FROM YOUR GAME?"

Pit looked at the place he was pointing so wildly, and when he saw what he meant, comprehension bloomed in his eyes. "OH MY GODDESSES! IT'S A GREEN ARROW AND IT'S POINTING IN SOME RANDOM DIRECTION THAT MIGHT BE A DIFFERENT WAY THAN WE'VE BEEN GOING THIS WHOLE TIME!"

"Just follow it!" Link told him, off of caps lock by now. He yanked Pit up and handed him his weapons. "Maybe it'll get us there faster!"

"Yeah . . ." Pit started thinking. He hadn't seen one in so long—what if something was wrong? But arrows in the Underworld? That could only mean one thing . . ."I hope this means that everyone is okay . . . . and I hope it's Paletena who's given me the arrow . . ."

"What are you talking about?" Link asked him, traveling in the direction the arrow had directed them.

"I'll explain it later," Pit said, a worried expression on his face. About ten feet away, Pit spotted another one pointing slightly southwest. "TH- THERE'S ANOTHER ONE! SCORE!" He fist punched the air, picking up the pace with Link trotting close behind. Finding Hades meant finding Daisy and finally getting back to the Mansion, where there would be lakes and trees and _food_ . . .

"Finally!" Link said. Excitement and joy had lit up his face, despite the exhausting purge that had just taken place the night before. He was probably thinking of Zelda, the same way Pit was thinking of Daisy. "How much closer . . . YES!" In the distance a black shape formed against the horizon of the early morning. Before Link had called out Pit had seen it; there was no doubt that this was the one they had been looking for. "IT'S THE CASTLE DARK PIT WAS TALKING ABOUT! HOW DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN?"

Pit decided to come out with it. "It must be Lady Paletena . . ." Link turned to him in confusion. "It happened a while ago, before I had even come to the Mansion. Lady Paletena – my patron goddess—told me that bad things were going to be happening to earth, and that I needed to go down there and save the humans before it was too late. I had thought it was Tabuu she was talking about, but now I wonder if she meant what's happening now, with Hades' resurrection. All this time I had been so confused to why I couldn't go back to Skyworld, but it all makes sense now. She must have been in trouble this whole time!" Pit covered his face in shame. "Why didn't I think of that before?"

"You thought the crisis was averted after we had defeated Tabuu," Link consoled. "You weren't thinking—none of us were. The long journey it took us to actually get to reveal who was actually turning everyone into trophies—as well as actually defeating him—was a long and draining process. You needed to rest. It's not your fault."

"But I doubted her," Pit said, shaking his head slowly. "For the first time in my life. I thought, when she had left me after the battle with Tabuu, she was leaving me forever. I was so confused when she didn't take me up to Skyworld, Link! I felt like I had lost my best friend . . . I didn't know . . . but now, she may be in trouble. . ."

"Let's just focus on the task at hand," Link told him. "There's nothing we can do about it worrying. And who knows? She may be in that castle, directing us now."

Pit set his gaze determinedly on the black shape ahead of them. "You're right." He forced himself not to worry about things that may not be true. If Paletena was in the castle, once he found her, everything would be okay. And if she wasn't in that castle, and she left him on earth, helping him now when they had been lost for days, then that was okay too . . . at least he would have found Daisy.

"Don't worry, Daisy," Pit said to himself. "I'm coming. . ."

Link gave a relieved sigh at the black castle, not thinking about Hades at the moment, but Zelda. "It's about time."

"Whoop—" Not paying attention, Pit suddenly tripped and fell. Link looked to him. "I tripped over a rock . . ." Pit said, smiling embarrassedly. "I hate these sandals!"

Link sighed, giving Pit a hand and helping him up. "When we get out of here, get some boots."

"Yeah . . ." Pit looked down at his feet, wiggling his toes from his gladiator sandals. "I really need some more shoes. Not flying hurts."

"Alright. Tough it out," Link said. "I don't want to carry you _and _Zelda out of here."

"Don't worry," Pit said casually. "I—" He gasped. "IT'S A HOT SPRING!"

Link facepalmed at the easily distracted angel. The castle was _right there._ It wasn't that much further until they could rescue Daisy and Zelda. But he followed where Pit had galloped to the far right. Sure enough, in between two rock crevices was a large hot spring, steaming and wonderful with all its calming wonder.

Pit had already jumped in. "Yes!" he exclaimed.

Link looked at the hot spring longingly. There had been hot springs in his game, too, and he hadn't found one as soothing as the ones the rock people had introduced him to. The Jacuzzis at the Mansion were nothing in comparison. So maybe one dip would be okay . . .

He kicked off his shoes and slipped his legs in, relishing in its delicious healing properties already. He sunk in further, closing his eyes, his troubles virtually melting away. "I guess we can relax for a moment . . ."

"Ahh," Pit said, barely hearing him. He dunk his head underwater and resurfaced. "My health is being pleasantly restored. . ."

Link rolled his eyes fondly. He remembered how the hot spring had been in between two rock crevices, virtually hidden from view where they had been walking. Pit had to have smelled the hot spring from where they had been, but from what he had seen from his frenzy about them already, he didn't doubt it.

The thing about hot springs is, when you see one, everything is instantly looking up. Things don't look as bad now, compared to what could've been, before. You jump in, clothes and all, and you instantly feel your wounds and worries disappear.

Link propped his elbows against the edge of the pool, sighing. He let his mind wander. "Too bad there're no shops around here. Now I have to SCROUNGE for arrows."

Pit sat up. "I've got some." Swimming to the edge of the pool he got out, picking up his quiver. In it were gleaming, white-bright arrows, waiting to be used. "An unlimited amount, actually."

Link brightened. "Oh, thank goddess!"

Pit looked at the quiver in his hand curiously. "Yeah, not sure where they all come from . . . Must be an immortal thing, I guess."

"Wait, can I even USE those?" Link said doubtfully. "I mean, you're an angel, and I'm not."

"They should still work," Pit said, not really believing it himself.

Somewhere deeper into the fallen boulders around them, they heard a faint voice cry out: "Link? Pit? Is that you?"

Pit was immediately on alert. His head whipped in the direction of the voice, recognizing who it belonged to immediately. "Daisy?" He stood up. "Is that you?"

Pit walked into the rock hillside, and Link followed him. And Pit couldn't believe his eyes.

She was there. Her red hair was disheveled beyond belief, and her face was scratched and bleeding, but otherwise, she looked fine.

"Daisy!" Link exclaimed as Pit ran to hug her tightly. Daisy's pale, terrified expression softened at once when she buried herself in his arms. But to Link, seeing her only made her think of his queen; and where she was and why she hadn't been with Daisy. He was glad that she was okay, but his troubles, he knew now, were far from over. Hadn't they come to the conclusion that both Dark Pit and Dark Link were working for Hades? "Have you seen Zelda?"

Daisy looked at him sadly, and Link almost broke down. "No, I'm afraid I haven't seen Zelda. I thought she was with you guys."

"No," Link said tersely, looking away. Where in the Underworld could she be, if not with Daisy? "She got kidnapped shortly after you did."

"Are you okay?" Pit asked her worried, looking over her frantically as he held her by the shoulders.

Daisy blushed. "Yes, Pit; I'm fine." She frowned. "It was a long way down . . ."

Link found he could not wait any longer. His mind was set on finding Zelda and nothing else; he'd do whatever it took. The only last place they knew where she could be at was at the very castle where Hades lived. Despite the castle being so near he knew that ahead awaited them even more troubles than ever before. He looked to the west, anxious and determined. "Pit, go take her to safety. I'll find Zelda . . ."

Pit followed his gaze and turned to look at him in shock. "Are you sure? I can help you."

"Just take Daisy to safety," Link repeated. "We can meet up later." Randomly, a breeze picked up and caught at Link's hair epically. "I've got this." The Legend of Zelda theme song played out of nowhere.

Pit looked to the sky wildly. "Where in the world did that come from?" No one had an answer for him. Daisy looked just as confused as he did, and Link just kept posing. After a few seconds the wind died and the song faded to a silence. Pit shook his head and turned his attention back to Link. "Anyway. Here." He bent down, picking up his quiver of arrows. He pulled a bunch out from the pack and handed it to him. "Take these." Link looked at him doubtfully, but Pit held his gaze steadily. "They'll work."

Link took them with a nod of gratitude. With that, the hero set off to the direction of the castle. Its towers in the distance looked malformed and stark even at this distance; the earthen landscape stark against an already a deep red sky.

"Won't you need some arrows for yourself?"

Pit turned back to Daisy and smiled slightly. "Don't worry. I've got a few extra. See?" He held up his quiver. Instead of there being hardly any left, the object had refilled itself to hold the maximum amount of arrows again. Pit regarded her with concern again. "But what happened? Dark Pit said that you fell from the sky while he kidnapped you. He said he was intercepted by Dark Link, or something, and I- I just can't believe . . ." Pit seemed at loss for words.

Daisy wrapped his arms around him and kissed him, catching him off guard completely. After she had pulled away, he was even more mystified than ever, and Daisy stumbled on her words as she spoke.

"I'm sorry! I just—I wanted to let you know that I was going to be alright. That I _am _alright. Dark Pit was never 'intercepted' by Dark Link- I never even saw him or Zelda the days I was with him—but he did drop me from the mountain range a couple minutes away. I floated down on my umbrella, and I had a rough landing, and I was wandering around until I came to you guys."

"I know!" Pit exclaimed, looking at her with concerned blue eyes. "I can see that you're fine now, but I was just worried—so worried about you—"

"And that's fine," Daisy said, tenderly. "But I can take care of myself, you know? I don't want you to think I'm fragile or anything. Heck, I beat the crap out of Dark Pit before he tied me up."

"He tied you up?"

"Yes," Daisy said sadly. "And almost killed me twice." At seeing the rising anger that rose in his eyes, Daisy hurried on, "But he was possessed—"

"I don't care! He almost killed you? How – how can you be so calm?!"

"I'm calm because I don't want you to freak out, Pit! And now you're freaking out, and then I'm going to freak out, and this was the type of thing I was trying to avoid all this time!"

"Okay, okay!" Pit said, putting his hands up in the air as a truce.

"I just want you to know that you can trust me," Daisy said, putting a gentle hand on his face so that he could look at her. He did. "I didn't die, alright? And neither did you."

"You're right," Pit said, guilty. "I'm sorry." He looked down. "But I'm really glad you're not hurt."

"And I'm glad you're not hurt," Daisy said, and she hugged him again, burying herself in the crook of his neck.

Pit smelled the deep scent of her hair, how it still lingered with flowers and hope. He liked the way she smelled, and didn't think he could ever get tired of it—

"Wait," he said suddenly, pulling away to look at her, wide-eyed. "Did you kiss me earlier?"

"Yeah, dummy," Daisy said, placing a peck on his cheek. "If you hadn't been worrying so much about me, you wouldn't have missed it."

Pit smiled at her, touching lightly the stray strands of her hair to put them back in place. "I guess you're right. You're stronger than I thought, Daisy."

His lips still tingling from the kiss before, Pit barely noticed Daisy's breath catch before meeting her lips once more. He just thought he had taken her breath away.

Daisy's mind strayed but Pit's stayed right where he was; thoughts lingering on his first kiss. He decided he couldn't think of a more wonderful thing.

**XXX**


	17. Bleeding Out

**A/N: Song inspiration from Imagine Dragons' song 'Bleeding Out', suggested by Epicfire123. Thought it was appropriate, though I'm not going to post the lyrics to it.**

**And an explanation to Link's lame comebacks . . . In the manga to (Legend of Zelda) Ocarina of Time, they're even cheesier.**

**But, whatever. Who am I to judge Link's choice in words?**

**XXX**

Pit went with Daisy to set out to follow Link, but he was already at the castle, climbing the tower walls.

Pit didn't know why he was climbing the tower, but he knew he could not follow Link due to one vital thing; Link was using his hookshot to reach the top, and Pit did not own one. So he waited, taking Daisy's hand and praying to Paletena that he would be alright. And he knew that if he fell, he would be right there to catch him.

**XXX**

If there had been a sun, it would be high in the sky by now.

But there wasn't. Link was glad of this, because he was already sweating like crazy climbing the high tower of the many spired black castle.

He couldn't really tell you _why _he climbed up that thing. All he could tell you, staring up angrily at the massive thing, was that instinct told him to shoot his hookshot up the spires to climb to the top. He hoped it was the connection he and Zelda shared through the Triforce that told him she was up there. Or perhaps it was the faint, strange bond that he shared with Dark Link that called him there. He hoped it was the former.

On and on Link climbed, hanging on perilously to the wall as he shot his hookshot at each interval. Shooting his hookshot one final time before climbing up to the edge of the platform, he prayed that his instincts about Zelda were right, and that he wasn't too late.

He pulled himself up.

Sitting at the other end of the wall on a regular wooden box was Dark Link. There was nothing else around, not even a tied up Zelda or a mess of ropes of where she could've been.

Link tucked his hookshot in his belt, stalking towards the sitting figure. She should've been here, he thought. Why wasn't he here?

"Where is she?" Link demanded, coming closer. "WHERE IS SHE?!" Ten paces away, he unsheathed his sword. "TELL ME!"

Dark Link continued to sit on the wooden box, crossing his arms and looking at him imperiously. "It's not as fun if I told you straight out." Link stopped a few feet from him, breathing heavily. Dark Link stood and took out his sword casually, grinning as he did. "Let's fight for her. Just like old times."

Link rushed at him. "I beat you once, I'll beat you again!"

Dark Link deflected his strike, side stepping and retaliating with a thrust. "And I'm always ready for you."

"But you always lose." He and Dark Link were dueling so close now that he didn't need to raise his voice above half a mutter. Link parried, knocking his sword back. He came in with a move of his own; his rage fueling him now. The fact that Dark Link had kidnapped Zelda again burned him with determination. He needed to be defeated, once and for all.

Dark Link found a hole in Link's defense and went for his shoulder, slicing his shoulder open and drawing blood. But neither of them really noticed. They were going too fast to see a minor injury such as that. All the doppelgangers were waiting for was that single deadly strike, that fatal blow that would put an end to one or the other. "But why now?" Link questioned him. "Why does this –" he parried again, the sound of sword against metal sharp in the air—"never-ending game benefit you?!"

"Why?" Dark Link said. "Why?!Why is the ultimate question for everything, isn't it?" He advanced furiously, pushing Link back. Link misstepped, and Dark Link slashed at his chest, almost to the point of something dire. But the hero was just as skilled as him. Link had avoided the strike just in time so that only his shirt got torn. "Why do you have to keep on trying, Link? WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE?!"

"BECAUSE I LOVE HER!" Link ducked, spinning around and aiming for his face in an underhand move. Dark Link turned, but not in time for Link's sword to cut into his cheek. "THAT'S WHY!" Dark Link, caught off guard at the sharp wound, was attacked by Link with a slash to the chest. His shirt, like Link's, tore in the front.

Dark Link gave a mocking laugh before turning into a spin attack. Link, anticipating this, backed off a few steps. "What's the point of this, anyway? This _love_ you say you have for her. Here, you have no kingdom to protect, to fight for. Here, there's no fight for the Triforce to secure." Their swords struck, locked together at the hilt. Dark Link leaned in close, barring all of his strength in his sword so that his adversary could listen to his words carefully. "What's the point of all this, when she just gets kidnapped, time after time, and taken from you, with nothing to show for it. Has she ever shown you her thanks for all of those times you saved her, Link?" He smirked. "Well, let me tell you, that she showed her thanks to _me _just great."

"What—did you – do to her?" Link grit out. The force of their swords was pushing the hero back. His feet was being forced backwards and his face shining with strain and sweat. The lack of food and water for days was wearing on him.

"Shut up," Dark Link said, shoving the hilt of his sword violently upward. Link, though thrown off guard, kept a firm grip on his sword. "I'm still talking," Dark Link said conversationally. The two began slashing at each other again, Link losing strength fast. "Because I still don't understand why you try—so hard—to prevent something that just keeps on happening _over and over and over_ again. You don't want anything from her, that much is obvious. She must give you something anyway, without you even knowing it. Is she your strength? Your motivation, maybe? Your reason for pushing on?" Dark Link said the last question in a mocking tone.

Link was losing power with every strike of Dark Link's he dodged and parried. It was even hard to concentrate, because, unlike Dark Link, had barely any energy to go off on. Most of it being zapped away from climbing that cursed tower. Dark Link, sensing this, went on. "She must be. Because I'm surprised that you haven't given up completely on this yet. Aren't you getting tired?"

"I love her, and that's the end of it." Link was exhausted. "I keep pushing on because there's no one else to take the hard path." He thought of Seth, of how he went to work for Ganondorf to secure money for his new family. All of the things he did were for the right reasons, but his means of getting them were wrong. He wished desperately things could be different. He wished that the right path did not always have to be the hard path, as well. "But that's something you'll never understand. You were born from darkness and have lived in it. You know nothing else; you'll never know anything more." Link put a considerable amount of power into a side attack, which Dark Link parried easily. In that split second, Link came in close, finding an opening in his block that enabled him to see him face-to-face, swords locked hilt-to-hilt once again. "And now it's my time to end you—once and for all."

Dark Link gave a short laugh, but the strain of their swords was pressing on him as well, and the beads of sweat could be seen easily on his face. "Because I wonder what would happen if your lovely queen was suddenly torn away from you?" He grinned evilly. "What would you do then?" And the fear flashed briefly in Link's eyes. "What would you do—" Dark Link shoved him again, to the edge of the castle platform—"—if she just—" Dark Link jammed his sword at Link's side, and he deflected it, but just barely—"—DIES?" Suddenly Dark Link looked upward, and Link did as too, both of them seeing Zelda being held in the air at the edge of the tower by a strained looking Dark Pit. Though she was tied up and was gagged, she was putting up a good fight, the dark angel losing his grip.

"Zelda!" Link called desperately. "Don't move or you'll—"

Dark Pit, with a look from Dark Link, let go of Zelda and she fell, past Link and over the side of the tower.

Link sucked in a breath of air.

In those seconds of distraction, Dark Link finally had his chance. He lunged forward, stabbing Link an the chest. Staggering back, Link dropped his sword, a look of absolute shock on his face, staring at the foe who had just defeated him.

Above them, Dark Pit smirked and flew off.

XXX

Link stumbled back. One hand clutching at the blooming red at his shirt, the other reaching behind him, he grabbed for his bow at an approaching, swaggering Dark Link, the Dark half grinning malevolently. Using his other hand he notched a bomb arrow, shooting it at Dark Link.

He missed. The wrenching pain in his chest was too much of a handicap for him. Dark Link's eyes gleamed red with glee.

Link could feel his thoughts shutting down. Soon everything around him will shut to black. Already it was becoming hard for him to breathe, taking in air in struggling gasps.

"And then, nothing will matter in the end . . ." Dark Link plunged his foot into his chest and kicked him forward. Link tumbled off the edge of the castle tower, falling, falling . . .

And for a moment, hair whipping in his face in a moment of time-stopping elegance, Link felt a moment of bliss . . .

"NO!"

Link whipped out his hookshot and shot it upwards. It caught on the tower ledge. The rope went taunt, and slowly, Link climbed back to the top, back to Dark Link who gaped at him in shock.

Rage scrawled wildly on his face, he looked at his doppelganger head on. He did not—could not—bear to think of Zelda right then; wondering if she was dead or not would distract him for a moment he did not have. There was nothing he could do to save her now, despite all of his efforts; all he could do was to fight for her just like every other time.

Dark Link, recovering, sprang at Link with renewed vigor.

They met each other yelling. The two were so loud they almost missed the noise of an agonizing scream piercing the air. Link, still sword fighting, jolted inwardly, praying that it hadn't been Zelda; for if it was, he didn't think he could continue.

But it wasn't. The yell had been masculine. From the corner of his eye, Link saw the Dark angel falling from the sky, an arrow to his side.

He sighed inwardly. So the scream hadn't been her.

A few seconds later, Link saw two figures rising from the edge of the tower. Now, in his line of sight, Link saw Dark Pit fly onto the platform, carrying a still-bound Zelda to the platform where they fought. Dark Pit set her down on the platform gently, the figure looking unbroken and conscious from the distance where Link fought. Then he fell to the ground, exhausted. Link noticed that the arrow still pierced his side.

Dark Pit had just saved Zelda, right after dropping her to her death. Why?

Despite his serious injury, Link kept going, intent on killing the ghost that had haunted him for so long. His moves were so similar to his own that it was difficult for him to get an opening.

Difficult, but not impossible.

A flicker of a memory hit Link like a bullet. Despite his obvious skill, he lacked experience, and had a major flaw—overconfidence. Dark Link never seemed to learn from his mistakes. Link remembered from fights past how easily Dark Link was tricked into thinking he had got you. In the state that was now, it was easy to pretend that he was on his last leg, but hard to be able to let his guard down enough to make it seem like he was losing.

Sweat ran down both Links' faces . He managed, though, quickly switching from offensive to defensive and making it look like he was about to give up. Dark Link's eyes fired up with delight, parrying his strike and aiming for his heart in a predictable underhand thrust . . .

Link sidestepped at the last minute, finally succeeding and stabbing Dark Link where it counted.

Dark Link spluttered, falling backwards. Breathing hard, he looked at the blooming red in the front of his chest in what seemed like disbelief. He grimaced as he put a hand over his chest, pulling it away with blood. Link stepped over to him, his breathing heavy and ragged. He looked down at his fallen opponent, hard anger falling away to cool distaste.

"You had . . . this coming," Link told him. "I had thought that staying . . . at the Mansion . . . had changed you, but I suppose it hadn't. Now . . . now I realize that you don't deserve anything less."

With one elbow he looked he sat himself up in hard disdain, and Dark Link smirked up at him and spoke: "Fuck you."

Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth and he coughed, spitting out blood. Link turned his head away. Lifting it up to wipe it away, he failed, the rest of his strength leaving him as he fell to the ground.

Link looked back to him for a moment longer, the sword of Link's ghost abandoned from his open hand. He did not move. Link's face remained expressionless.

He turned away swiftly, his mind on Zelda. Jogging over to where she lay, he found her bounds already loosened and broken away, helping Dark Pit as he lay up against the wall, wincing in pain. The arrow was still in his side.

Zelda turned to him, and Link's breath caught. Her eyes were filled with relief and worry at seeing him in the state that he was in. He also saw strength; strength that Link had known was there but suddenly found it her most beautiful quality; because he saw on her face also a long cut that went down from the corner of her left eye, all the way down to her jawbone. The blood was dried, but it went deep into her cheek, and was already becoming a scar.

Link knelt down next to her, putting one hand to her face. "Zelda . . ."

Dark Pit gave out a noise of pain. Zelda turned her attention back to him, his shut tight. He snarled (obviously taking a change in attitude), "I unwrapped your bounds, and saved you, for goddesses sake. You said you were going to heal me!"

"I will," Zelda said calmly. She turned back to Link. "I need you to take the arrow —"

Link nodded solemnly and inched his way over to him. Taking the other hand away from his chest he sucked in a deep breath. Both hands on the arrow in his side (the arrow had not pierced in deep) wrenched it free in one swift movement.

Dark Pit cried out, his legs kicking out as he panted and breathed with uneven breaths. Sweat dripped down his face.

Link tossed the arrow aside, putting a pressured hand back on his chest as Zelda laid gentle hands on Dark Pit's bloodstained side. The last thing he saw was the golden light emanating from her fingertips, right before he blacked out on the floor.

XXX

Link woke up with his head in her lap. Funny; he never thought the day would come when _she _would be the one taking care of _him_.

"You were stabbed in the chest and you didn't even tell me?!" Zelda scolded him, passing a hand to the side of his face. "I should've saved you first! You could have died!"

Link just smiled wanly and sat up, the pain in his chest gone.

Zelda grabbed him and held him close, burying her face in his shoulder. Link wrapped her arms around her. "You're such an idiot. I'm so glad you're here."

Link smiled slightly. Only Zelda could make those two phrases work with each other.

She sniffled suddenly. "I am so, so sorry," Zelda said brokenly.

Link pulled away to look at her, confused. "Sorry for what?"

Zelda sighed, pulling away to brush the tears drifting down her face. "Sorry that this had even begun at all. If I had—had left him alone, he wouldn't have brought his wrath on us all. He wouldn't have brought us here in the Underworld to begin with."

"Don't say that," Link said, guiding the side of her face to look at him. She did. "He came in unannounced and from a different world, imposing himself on us to deal with. You just wanted him out. It's not your fault."

Zelda nodded, letting Link pull her in close. He looked over to Dark Pit. His eyes were closed as he lay against the wall, but his breathing came out soft and contained; he seemed to be exhausted.

"Why did he save you?" Link asked, stroking her hair methodically.

Zelda moved against him and turned to the dark angel lying against the wall. "Pit shot him from below," she replied, her shoulder still resting against his chest. "I guess that . . . woke him up somehow and he traveled back to save me before I hit the ground." Looking over to Link, she said, "Don't blame him for what happened here. It wasn't his fault; it was Hades'. I'm glad to be alive."

Link nodded. "Fine. If you trust him, I won't tell you different. But I'm not going to trust the guy—angel—kid—whatever . . . that tried to kill you."

"I'm not saying you do. I'm just saying you should give him a chance."

Link didn't answer. Staring at her he reached a careful hand to the corner of her left eye. "Did Dark Link do this to you?"

She nodded, resting a hand over his as he examined the wound. "Has it already scarred over?"

"Yeah. But don't think that's going to prevent me from loving you." He smiled softly, sweeping her hair behind her ear. She smiled too, blushing. "Actually, I think now you look . . . tougher, in a way. Like some fierce warrior princess."

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. Back at the Mansion, people are going to cringe when they see me."

"Oh, it's not that bad," Link said, fingering her hair playfully. "I think it looks beautiful."

Zelda smiled exasperatedly before bringing her lips to his.

XXX

_All alone _

_Even when I was a child_

_I've always known _

_There was something to be frightened of_

_And I can see it coming from the edge of the room_

_Creeping in the streetlight_

_Holding my hand in the pale gloom_

_Can you see it coming now?_

_**~End of Part 2 **_


	18. A Little Insight

**A/N: So, finished with Part 2, with one more part to go. And with Part 3, comes Ike once again . . .**

_~Beginning of Part 3_

XXX

Pit and Daisy sat up at once.

In front of them had appeared an expanse of blinding white and purple light, shaped like a diamond big enough for three people. Once the light had died down, Pit could see clearly who it had held—Link, Zelda, and a very tired looking Dark Pit.

Pit began to advance towards him—and then stopped. He didn't look so hot. The arrow he had shot in his side had been discarded, and the resulting blood gone. Zelda was fine. Does that mean he was really back to normal?

"Zelda!" Daisy exclaimed, running into the other one's arms. Zelda hugged her enthusiastically.

"I'm so glad you're not hurt," Zelda told her.

Daisy stepped back, about to reply, then stopped herself in shock. "Your face—I mean, what happened?"

Zelda bowed her head and looked away. Link stepped in for her, "It was Dark Link's fault. Can't trust that bastard no matter what."

Pit cleared his throat, casting a subconscious glance to Dark Pit. "Is he—?"

"Yes," Link said definitely. "He's dead."

Pit nodded and gave Link a tired smile. Worn out but hopeful, Link returned it.

"I'm glad you're okay," Pit said to Link. "And you as well," Pit said, nodding to Zelda. He continued to avoid Dark Pit's gaze.

"Next stop, Hades," Link said, turning to the castle that loomed in front of them in daring determination. He turned to all of them in expectation. "Because he's right behind those double front doors, isn't he?"

"Yeah." Everyone looked around at Dark Pit in surprise. "He's in there, alright. But from the looks of everyone here, I don't think we're ready to face him at all."

"Who said anything about 'we'?" Daisy said, narrowing her eyes at him. "This is our mission, not yours."

"You're wrong, actually," Dark Pit said, eyes boring into her intensely. "Hades had me from the beginning. He controlled me to do all those things to you; and you," he said, turning to Zelda now. He looked at all of them in turn. "So I could say I'm sorry about all the things I almost did to you guys –only it wasn' t me who did them. I want to come with you so we can stop this madness—before it's too late. Because I've got a score to settle with the Lord of the Underworld."

"I know you were 'possessed' a few times," Daisy said cautiously, "But I still don't understand how Hades got control over you, and not any of us."

"Me, especially," Zelda said with renewed interest. "I was inches away from Hades at one point, and he could have possessed me to do anything he wanted—"

"And what he wanted you to be is the damsel in distress," Dark Pit said hurriedly. "He only needed me and Dark Link to do what he needed to do—"

"That's insane," Daisy said. "As much as I want to believe you—there were times when you had complete control over what you were doing. Like when you tried to talk me into joining you so you could return me back to the boys—" Pit's shoulders stiffened next to her.

"Did you do all of these things on purpose?!" Pit fired, advancing towards him.

"No!" Dark Pit exclaimed, raising his hands up in defense. "I admit, I'm not _proud _of the things that Hades made me do. But that's the thing; _he made me do those things._ And the only reason why he had control over what I could and could do, is because . . ." Dark Pit looked away. "I went to him willingly."

"WHAT?!" Pit flamed, Link and Zelda oddly quiet next to him.

"What do you mean by that?" Daisy asked.

"You had gone to join Brawl with orders from Paletena," Dark Pit began to explain, looking at Pit desperately. "The humans were in trouble. But I had no idea where you had gone. I had– you were, the _only _person I knew and could really stand to talk to, and asking for guidance was . . . beneath me at the time. I had been wandering for a while, defeating stray Underworld monsters when one day it leaked that Hades had risen back to life. I forced an eggplant wizard to tell me where Hades was now, thinking I could be smart and defeat him before things got too out of hand, and then have Viridi and Paletena shower me with praise . . . but then, Hades made me an offer. He said that he had stolen a serum from the god Apollos that could actually give me my power of flight back. . . permanently." Dark Pit looked at Pit pleadingly. "The serum turned out to be the venom of a Shemum that, once mixed with the blood of the creator, subjected the will of the user to their will. And that's what happened. That's how I became Hade's little puppet. I was being selfish and stupid, and for that, I'm sorry."

The four of them were speechless. Pit, for once, didn't know what to say. The situation was a lot more clear now, but to him had just become so much more confusing.

"I think we should let him join," Link said. Everyone's gazes turned to meet his, including Dark Pit, looking surprised. "He deserves a chance, and we could use the help."

Daisy and Zelda hesitated. Meeting Link's set look, they finally gave in.

Dark Pit gave a sigh of relief.

"Okay, that's all figured out," Pit said eagerly, bursting with energy all of a sudden. "Though, as much as I want to kick Hades back to Tartarus as soon as possible, I also think Pittoo is right. We all look like crap." Daisy shot him a glare, and Zelda shrugged, knowing it was probably true. Pit's smile grew wider, knowing he was close to winning them over. He was feeling excellent, for some reason. They had another ally on their side, and they had gotten the girls back. He had a good feeling about their confrontation with Hades. "Which is why I suggest we all take a visit to the hot springs."

Link rolled his eyes. "There's a hot spring near here?" Dark Pit asked with slightly piqued interest.

"Yup," Pit said proudly, putting his hand on his hips. "And I think we all deserve a mini vacation." With a look to a cross-armed Link, Pit pleaded, "Come on; we can't leave this world without showing the girls the healing properties of a good bath! We're all exhausted."

Link shrugged. The rest were sold.

XXX

"I'm done having this conversation."

Samus crossed her arms. Ironically, she didn't like thinking about the future. It wasn't happening to her now, so why bother? Even more so when thinking about it made her uncomfortable.

As it did now.

"We haven't even begun talking about this," Ike said, putting his arms around hers as they stood in the dim light of the Mansion hallway. "Don't you see how important this is to me? To us?"

"We've got plenty of time," Samus said, shrugging away from him. "Nothing has to happen right now."

"But I'm tired of waiting around." Ike's voice followed her as she made her way down the stairs to the kitchen. "As much of a –a paradise it is here, nothing ever happens. I want to make plans for us. Can't you let me do that?"

He had said paradise like the word hurt to say. "Things happen here," she commented lightly. "We don't have to worry, we don't have to plan; everything we could ever need is funded right here—"

"It's all funded by Mario and Luigi," Ike said, shaking his head. "I'm just asking if I can make help make a living for the both of us."

Samus stopped, coming down to the first floor, and turned to him with a pained expression on her face. "I just don't know, Ike; what if we can't adapt to this type of life?"

"We've adapted to this one," Ike said, a bitter edge to his voice. "Like a freaking vacation every day."

Samus crossed her arms. "This is what I'm talking about. You're still angry about this calm we've come to now. I'm afraid that you—that both of us—won't be able to maintain a normal, regular life after the ones we've already lived." Ike sighed. "I'm sorry," Samus murmured, reaching out to put a hand on his arm. "That's just where I stand."

"I've been looking for a job out there," Ike muttered. "In the real world. And I think that part of what you're saying is true. How could we stand to make a living out there? I've killed for a living; my profession lay in the amount of people I took out. And your job wasn't much different; how could we ever be normal? Even the most mundane jobs out there require some experience, and I don't even have that." Ike paused. "It's almost like we don't belong with each other; you can't live in my time, and I wouldn't last a day in yours; how—"

"Stop," Samus said, wrapping her arms behind his neck. "Now that I see how much this means to you, I should probably put in some effort too. I didn't know you had gone so far as to find a job."

"I want to have a future separate from this place," Ike told her. "I want to have a future with _you_."

And at that, Samus' lips met with his, and for a moment things were going to work out.

XXX

"Haz anyone seen my older self?"

Samus looked down at the blue-eyed, cute little cartoon staring up at her. There was something about Toon Link that brought out the motherly side of her, she reflected. But she went back to his question. Where _had _Link been for the past three days?

"Um . . ." Ike, who was standing across from her, said. They were playing table tennis on the courts outside; one of the only past times they did that didn't include making out.

"Now that I think about it, they haven't been here all week." Samus lowered her paddle in thought, wondering where they could possibly be. She missed the plastic ball, but ignored it; Ike, on the other hand, rolled his eyes in annoyance when he realized that the game was over.

It wasn't that she was oblivious; but the Mansion was a very large place; with six floors and too many rooms to count. If the Brawlers didn't rendezvous on purpose, then there was a chance that they didn't see much of one another for entire days. But it had been almost four days by now, and she hadn't seen Link _or _Zelda for that matter.

"I need a picture of him so that Toon Zelda can know that I DO stay good looking when I'm older," Toonie continued in his high pitched voice. Ike snickered, murmuring something about that being the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. But Samus smiled down at him. Who didn't want to comfort this adorable little kid when he needed it? "I'm sorry, bud. He's not here right now. But I'm sure Toon Zelda would think you're cute either way."

Toonie slumped forward, sighing heavily. "It's just that she doesn't think it'll last. . . ."

Samus' heart just about broke for the little guy. "Aw, she said that?" She knelt down to look at him eye level. "Why don't you go visit her?"

Instantly his face brightened. "Yeah! That's a great idea!"

Samus smiled and ruffled his hair. "And don't worry about Adult Link. He'll be okay."

Toonie smiled broadly. "Thanks Samus!" He buried himself in her neck, wrapping his arms around her in appreciation. Samus, though a little surprised, squeezed back tightly. "I just hope he doesn't die. I really need that picture."

Samus frowned. "Yeah, me too. . . But now for the same reason . . ."

Ike, who had come closer to listen in on their conversation, spoke then with a montone voice. "He'll make it out. He _is _the freakin' "hero" of virtually everything, isn't he? And he's with that angel." Ike scoffed and crossed his arms. "They're virtually invincible."

Toonie pulled back from Samus to look up at him pointedly. "He not the hero of EVERTHING. Give a chosen one some respect!" His voice by now was rising and sounded unpleasant and borderline shrill, and he continued, gesturing wildly, "Do you WANT me to name off every hero I've been?"

Ike stared down at him in disinterest. "Not really. I just said that to be SARCASTIC. I really don't care."

Samus looked at him like a disapproving mother. "Ike. . . "

Toonie looked at him with wide blue eye on the edge of tears. His bottom lip began to tremble. "Y-you . . .don't care?"

Samus gathered him into her arms again and began to comfort him. "Oh, Toonie, don't listen to him. Sometimes Ike can get a little grumpy when he feels underappreciated. It's not your fault."

Ike didn't comment.

Toonie furrowed his eyebrows in thought; "What does "underdepreciated" mean?"

"Oh . . ." Samus was met by his adorable big eyes. She smiled kindly. "It mean means he doesn't fell useful to anyone here. Ike just won't tell you that because he doesn't want to admit it."

Ike, arms crossed and as silent as ever, looked on, an eyebrow arched high on his face.

"Aww, Ike!" Toonie was filled with a compelling need to hug the mercenary, and so naturally, he did. Only coming to about his thigh, though, he was content to just hugging his leg. "Don't feel underdepreciated!"

Ike looked down at Toonie, wide-eyed in surprise. He lifted a hand to pat the kid's head awkwardly (and at Samus' hard stare) made an attempt at an apology, "Yeah. Sorry."

Toonie beamed up at him, seemingly all the light in the world reflected up at him through his eyes. "It's okay!" he said happily. "But just so you know, I'm the hero of Winds, and he's the hero of Twilight."

Ike smiled at him weakly, but from her point of view it really just looked like a grimace. "Yeah. Cool."

Departing form Ike's legs, Toonie latched onto Samus;. "Thanks for making me feel better and teaching me what "underdepreciated" means!"

"No problem, Toonie." Samus smiled, but the smile was forced from the effort of hiding her anger towards Ike. "Now, why don't you go play with Kirby inside for a sec? I need to go and berate Ike for a moment."

Ike looked to her in alarm. "Wait, what."

Still hugging her leg, Toonie asked, "What does 'berate' mean?"

"Literally, it means to chew someone out for something they've done wrong. But for me, it means I'm going to kill someone."

"Oh, okay!" Toonie said brightly, detaching himself form Samus' leg to go run off somewhere.

Once he was gone, Samus turned to Ike slowly, barely able to keep a lid on her anger.  
"Ike . . ."

Ike, not meeting her gaze, said, "Yeah?"

"Tell me; what the hell is wrong with you?"

" . . .um . . ."

"I mean, you're like a stone wall. A brick with no emotion. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one at this Mansion you actually care about. You almost made the little guy cry!"

"And?"

Samus' temper was at its peak now. "You can't just do that! Just because you're upset about something, doesn't mean you have to make the people around you feel bad!"

Ike sighed, closing his eyes. "I know. I'm sorry, okay? I'm just more than a little sick of this place. It's like you said, There's nothing to do at this Mansion. Everyone who's here thinks Link is so great. I'm getting annoyed by it all. All this hype about "The Chosen Hero" . . . gets me feeling really low."

Samus fierce composure calmed down with sympathy. "Aw." "She smiled towards the she had all the love in the world, wrapping her arms around him then, burying her face in his shoulder. "as cheesy as this sounds, you'll always be my hero, Ike."

Her voice was muffled in the fabric as Ike pulled her closer, letting her hug him. It didn't really disband all the feelings he held towards Link, but he knew that she cared for him, and that helped some. He smiled slightly, "You're right. That _did _sound cheesy."

"Only for you, babe." Samus said, head still resting on his neck, she said, "You're so cute when you're actually talking to me."

Ike didn't really know what to say to that. He didn't normally like being called cute, but he supposed he could make an exception.

XXX

**A/N: Again, nothing much, just a prelude to what's to come. This came out a lot longer than I expected it to. Apollon is just another name I made up for the Greek god of healing and archery. Nothing important, but I thought I put that in there. Anyway, I couldn't help but ship Ike and Samus here; next update coming soon.**


	19. Supermassive Black Hole

**A/N: Chapter name inspired by Muse, the most influential band in my life. **

**XXX**

Who said Dark Link had died on that tower top? There he laid, long after the foursome had left for the hot spring, the blood ebbing out of him, his life draining away.

Knowing he was going to die anyway, Dark Link lay there, his eyes closed; the injury too serious for him to do much else anyway. He cursed himself for failing. His goal, his mission to kill the righteous wielders of the Triforce was quickly going down the drain. Soon, everything he had lived for would cease to exist, but that, sadly, amounted to little else.

He gasped from the wound, his resolve beginning to leave him. All that had mattered in his mind was to kill and hurt and torment. If he hadn't succeeded in doing just that to the people who deserved it most, then he had, essentially, died for nothing.

"Wake up, you pathetic excuse for Dark Magic."

Dark Link sighed, coughing up blood in the process, mentally cursing at the sound of that familiar voice, wishing that it could've been someone, _anyone _but her . "Worst. Heavenly Angel. Ever."

Dark Link could sense her smiling. "Oh, Link, you worthless creature," Dark Zelda scoffed. I come to save you and _this _is the thanks I get? I should just let you die as you are."

"No. Please." Dark Link opened his eyes from the grips of incoming death. Looking at his sister pleadingly, he knew that at that moment, he did not want to give in just yet. Perhaps he was just delirious from the severity of his wounds, but he meant what he had said next: "I don't want to die. Not yet."

She met his eyes with measuring eyes. "As if you have anything to live for." Either way, Dark Zelda knelt down next to him and placed a hand over his heart, where purple energy flowed from her body to his. Presently, Dark Link's life was restored, his breathing becoming more regular as Dark Zelda pulled back. She stood to look down on him imperiously.

Dark Link stood up next to his sister, his clothing still stained red from where he had been stabbed but the wound nonexistent. He made a show of smoothing out his clothing. "So. My little sister cares for me after all."

Dark Zelda fists clenched at her sides. "I wouldn't call it sympathy, idiot. Hades sent me here to fetch you. I would've been glad to watch you die."

He turned on her, his face guarded but actually feeling quite hurt. "You don't mean that." When she didn't give an answer, he got angry. As if being siblings didn't even matter! As if being bound together all these years meant nothing to her! "Oh, forgive me. I can't believe I expected anything less from you, ye ole unfaithful."

"Unfaithful! Do you know how many times I've had to save your sorry ass in the past?!" she snapped. "You're straight up lucky to have me, _brother_."

He made a noise of exasperation. "_Now_ you want to pretend like you care? Don't even try."

"You think this is easy for me?" Dark Zelda's pale-white face was becoming red with anger, and her hands clenched to fists at her sides. "The only reason I was created was to aid you! I am, quite frankly, useless. I am –"

"Useless, except when it comes to being somebody else's whore." At her accusative glare, he went on, getting fuel from her hurt look: "Yeah! You went off to be Hades' bitch in the Underworld as soon as he snapped his fingers! I'm positive even _you _can do better—"

"Says the person who I just saved!" Dark Zelda hissed, her already dark eyes burning fiercely with purple fire. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother; you never succeed no matter what task you're given."

Dark Link turned away sharply, cursing in Hylian. She was right, of course.

"It's not my fault that I was created to kill, and you were created to do whatever you were created to do." Dark Link paused. "It's just who we are. So why don't you just . . . poof us to your bastard's house or whatever, so we can see what the hell he wants with me."

Dark Zelda gave him a stern look intermingled with curiosity. He knew she would've loved to continue that fight until the day turned red and hot again, and he would've too, but he felt like he couldn't really handle anymore right then. He was tired; and just wanted to get the day over and done with.

She didn't. Rolling her eyes, she placed a hand on his shoulder, she waved the other in front of them, procreating a shimmer of white light. In the next moment, the white light consumed them and Dark Zelda and Dark Link were gone.

XXX

"I gave you one job."

Dark Link's first thought was that, during this entire week, Hades had not gotten mad once. When he had been first summoned to the Ruler of the Underworld, he was sitting quite comfortable in tall, cushioned chair overlooking a very large arena. He knew Hades had been watching his every move ever since he had first employed him. But if he were to be completely honest with himself, the being (he felt it was beyond him to refer to him as his 'god'—there were no gods in his world) did not impress upon him the feeling of fear or respect someone like Ganondorf had tried with him. He had come off as being very low key, cool and collected; joking even when he mentioned how the world was going to perish in sick, twisted ways. He knew Hades could've let him die, instead of sending Dark Zelda to fetch him. But even this didn't make Dark Link the obedient dog that Hades no doubt wanted. He was only there for the job and nothing else; not because Hades had forced him to.

But seeing him now, in person, with his anger unleashed upon him, was probably the most terrifying thing he could think of.

Dark Link did not reply. Hades still sat in the seat, hands clenching and unclenching the handles of the throne as Dark Zelda crossed over to stand behind him, looking at Dark Link with expressionless eyes.

"One job." Hades black swirls of energy pulsed around him and the throne now. His eyes did not explode with the same fire Dark Zelda's had, but instead churned into itself; now two swirling black holes, devouring all and leaving nothing but death and destruction and fear in its wake. Hades stood up. "And you failed it!"

Only Hades' last two words had ended in much exclamation; his tone up until then had been very level and restrained. The god moved towards him slowly, the way a massive sandstorm comes to meet a frail building. "You failed it!" Hades exclaimed again, his hands now clenched at his sides. "I give you one hero to kill, one job to do! One person! That's all I said! And you couldn't even do that!"

By this time Hades' black energy had swirled around the room in a fury, covering Dark Link's vision of everything that had stood in the room. The energy did not feel like anything, just curled around him like smoke, licking its way around Dark Link's neck and arms as he became more and more aware of Hades presence coming closer and closer to his position.

Dark Link was jolted at the sound that came from Hades next. He was actually laughing.

Dark Link opened his eyes. The energy that had traveled throughout the room crawled back to its original source, and he realized that the floor had been mere inches away from his face. He hadn't even noticed he had dropped to the ground.

Bringing his hands from behind his head, he got up from his knees to face him. Hades was continued laughing; his deep seated chuckle filling the room. "Oh, humans," Hades said with a quaint edge to his voice. "It was only convenient to me that Link and Pit would have died before I carried on with my plans, but I suppose the time isn't right, yet." He gave Dark Link a lazy smile. "_You_ may be the worst assassin I have ever met."

Dark Link didn't say a word. It was as if fear and shame prevented him from lifting his head from off the ground.

He suddenly became aware of his presence; the god took Dark Link's chin in between two fingers, jerking him to his feet. His nails were black and long, Dark Link noticed with disgust. His thumbnail scraped the side of his face as he inspected him with dark, ever-surging eyes, and any tendril of hope he had retained from coming back to life departed from him. He was lost, alone and ever in the shadow of _Link . . . "_And yet, I still keep you alive. Why, you may ask?" The ghost of a smile still played at the edges of his lips. "I have found it . . . beneficial to me to use humans as my pawns in regaining the power that I had lost. And you want to know how I plan to do that?"

It was rhetorical.

"The gods, you see, are kept alive solely by the belief of the humans," Hades explained. "The power of the gods dwindle if humans stop acknowledging them. So, that's how I plan to take control of this earth; making fear my name and death my game. I've had it all planned out since the beginning, you see . . . and even though our precious heroes aren't dead, yet, they haven't slowed me down at all."

Releasing his chin with a shove backwards, Hades turned and strolled back to his black throne.

"And that's pretty much the only reason I haven't killed you yet." He said all of this, Dark Link noticed, with a certain sick-sweet attitude. "I'll have plenty of chances in the future to kill them. Oh, don't get me wrong; I'd still love to have your soul." Hades smiled, but it was hungry, craving. "It wouldn't be the most _extravagant_ of delicacies, but there's a certain amount of dark magic in you I would love to try—greater than, I think, Dark Pit's. Purer than a virgin's, and darker than black coffee. Oh!" Hades gave some kind of noise of delight, and Dark Zelda stepped back cautiously. "You've got vengeance in your soul and I want it _bad_."

Dark Link, getting up from his discarded position on the floor, had now taken a huge step backward. Hades was looking at him in a way that he knew he didn't want to be looked at. "W-what do you want to use me for, then?" He could not help but stutter.

Hades grinned. "I decided I'm going to mix things up a bit, while I have home advantage. _I_ say, if you can't get two enemies from the same game to kill each other, then just switch the enemies!"

He blinked. "I'm not quite sure what you want me to do still . . ."

Hades sighed, rolling his eyes. "Look. You couldn't kill Link, and I couldn't kill Pit. So, why not use someone else to kill them for us, eh? Someone with enough rage against them to fuel the whole Las Vegas strip!"

"Still . . . not comprehending . . ."

Hades stood up from his throne and stalked towards him. Leaning close, so that even his figure, as massive as it was, was eye level to his, and spoke, his next words low, growling and simple:

"Hire the mercenary. Hire him to kill the ones he hates the most."

XXX

_Glaciers sucked into the dead of night, and superstars sucked into the supermassive—_

_Oh, you set my soul alight_

_Glaciers sucked into the dead of night, and the superstars sucked into the supermassive—_

_Oh, you set my soul alight_

_You're a supermassive black hole_

_XXX_

**A/N: *GASP* DARK LINK IS ALIVE?**

**Okay, so I figured that the Dark siblings just call each other by their names without the 'Dark'. Seems too much of a title, anyway. Saying that to say, I think that in the sequel I'm going to be changing the Dark Sibling's names, to give them more of a personality. I'll incorporate in there somehow. **

**Haha; Hades loves monologuing. WHAT DOES HE MEAN?**

**Oh, I love creating unnecessary suspense about the things I already know about.**

**I just took a salsa class for the second time last weekend, and all throughout the thing I couldn't help thinking about Samus' salsa class. I'M LIVING MY OWN FANFICTION!… and now I am tempted to change the chapters with them dancing since now I know how to really do it! **

**Oh, but don't mind me . . . I'm just a writer who happens to really like reviews ;))**

**And Dark Zelda's eyes are purple, just 'cuz.**


	20. Kill Your Heroes

**A/N: Chapter title inspired by the cong by AWOLNATION.**

**XXX**

Now inside, Ike and Samus snuggled on the couch of the living room. The TV was on, but no one was really watching it. Samus had dozed off, snoring lightly on his shoulder while the mercenary traced lazy circles on the skin of her arm. No one else was in the room; most of the Brawlers had gone outside to play kickball.

While Samus' thoughts had lingered on Pit, Link, Daisy and Zelda's absence, worrying about their well being but not able to get a hold of them either way, Ike was thankful that they were gone. The heroes had always managed to get everyone's attention on them _somehow_.And by now it was getting on his nerves. Being overshadowed was not one of his favorite hobbies, and he honestly didn't see how someone as annoying and Link and Pit could have the entire Mansion so enamored by their very presence . . .

Ike's thoughts lingered further. A fierce duel, between two of the greatest swordsmen in the country, flitted across his mind, and he latched onto it with painstaking ease. One of the men had been his father, and his twelve-year old self watched with great anxiety as he went against the feared Black Knight.

XXX

"_You don't have to do this!"_

_Greil looked down at him with grave eyes. Young Ike had managed to break free from the guard that was keeping watched at his tent, stopping his father with a tug of his cape. _

"_But I must," Greil said, kneeling down to look his son face-to-face._

_Deep blue eyes looked up at his father in dismay. "But I don't want you to go!" Young Ike's bottom lip started to tremble, and he gulped. "The other mercenaries . . . they say that the Black Knight is the most feared in all the land, and that he'll stop at nothing to take control of this land. Boyd tells me . . . Boyd tells me that you'll die."_

"_Then if I die, then you must avenge me," Greil told him. When Ike sniffled, he tightened his hold on his son's shoulder. "Listen, and don't fret. My death will always be the will of the gods, and none others. I am old, my son, and life has worn on me. I am ready to face death, if it wishes to greet me now. If I need to go now, you must learn to accept it, as well."_

_Ike nodded tersely, blinking away tears in order to be brave for his dad. But Greil didn't want him to put on a brave face._

_He pulled him in for a tight embrace, and Ike couldn't help but release a sob. _

"_I'm counting on you now," Greil said into his spiky hair. "Don't give up on me."_

* * *

_Ike's father had lost. As the men gathered around Greil's slowly dying body, Ike rushed forward. He was fading fast, and his breathing was just faint. In desperation, he began to pray that his father, by some miracle, would continue to live. Before his eyes, unseen by all except for him, a warm golden light appeared next to him. Ike turned, and there was an angel; long haired and dressed in long, flowing robes of fabric that seemed to shine. She reached out towards his father's body, both arms outstretched—_

"_No!" Ike exclaimed, making an effort to shove the angel back. But it was no use. His fingers went right through the angel; she seemed to only be made out of light. The angel leaned forward and reached for the body, and deftly Greil's body_ _became _two; _the soul separated from the body. In vain Ike persisted in hitting her angrily. "No! Don't take him! He was going to live!" _

_His eyes were clamped shut and his arms kept flying as the angel placed a hand on his shoulder. Ike's eyes sprang open to see the wane, smiling face of the angel looking back at him. She was very beautiful, Ike knew that now, but then all he could think of was how much he hated her. His father's body lay limp in her arms, but his tired face looked peaceful, almost as if he were sleeping._

"_This is the way things have to be, now," the angel told him softly, and her voice was like many church bells, forever resounding throughout his mind. "But you'll be strong, for your father, won't you?"_

_And with a dimming of the heavenly light, the angel left with his father. He hadn't even gotten to say goodbye; the angel's words had only hardened his heart to any forces of heaven there on afterwards._

* * *

_A few years later he had succeeded in killing the Black Knight. But even this couldn't quell his bubbling resentment. Because nothing could get in the way of Ike and his anger._

XXX

Ike was forced out of his thoughts when he heard someone talking from the far side of the room. Soon his ramblings became more and more agitated; after a while, Ike turned to see who was making so much noise.

It was Dark Link.

Ike frowned. "I haven't seen you in days."

Dark Link looked up, pausing his diligent march up and down the hallway. He seemed surprised, as if wondering how _he _had got there. Something flashed in his eyes then, replacing the look of astonishment with something like fear; but it was quickly replaced by a smooth mask of interest.

"I've been here," Dark Link told him, obviously lying. His voice had taken a very superior and propositional tone to it. "But that freaking Chosen Hero has been away; saving the world as always."

"You were with them." Ike pulled himself away from Samus, getting off the couch to face him. "But you're right," Ike said, smirking. "Link does get annoying with all his hero business."

In the doorway next to the two, Toonie walked in then, hoping to ask Ike if he'd seen Kirby. "Yeah," Dark Link said. "I hope he dies violently."

Toonie burst out crying. "GAAAAAAAAGH!" This woke Samus up immediately from her nap. Deftly she went over to where they stood and gathered Toon Link into her arms, glaring at Dark Link and Ike as she did. "What are you guys talking about?" she questioned.

"HE'S TOO SCARY!" Toonie pointed accusingly at Dark Link. "HE'S TOO HARD TO KILL!" Toonie started crying and Samus buried his head into her neck for comfort.

"I was just catching up," Ike told her, giving her his full attention as if Dark Link wasn't even there. Dark Link seemed surprised.

Samus cocked an eyebrow. "You never talk to Dark Link."

"You only say that because you think I'm always with you," Ike replied jokingly. "Come on. I have to talk to _someone _while you're sleeping until one in the afternoon."

Samus blushed. "I do not!"

"Most days you do."

Toon Link continued crying. "Well, I should go put him down," Samus said. She left the room, but not without giving Dark Link a last disapproving look.

Ike refocused back to Dark Link. "You've got me all wrong. I don't want him to die. He's just annoying sometimes. Him, and that angel."

Dark Link rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Whatever. But you're a mercenary, right?"

"Yeah . . ." Ike replied warily.

"I have $20,000 for you."

" . . .for what?" Ike thought nothing of the fact that Samus may as well be in the very next room, about to come in. All that filled his mind was the greed, the power and the thirst for blood form back when he was a mercenary resurfaced in him in full. Ike was back.

"There's a certain green-clad hero I need you to take out," Dark Link said.

"I might know of who you might be referring to. But I don't kill anymore."

Dark Link looked at him with an expectant look on his face, and Ike hesitated. "But I'd be willing . . . arrange my contract, if the price is just right."

"Rearrange it to kill?" Dark Link asked him.

"No. Rearrange it to capture him only. I can hold him for you until you came and took care of him. But I'd be willing to do it."

Dark Link looked at him measuredly and shrugged. "Alright, then . . . for $2,000."

Ike's eyebrows furrowed, and he stepped towards Dark Link menacingly. "What happened to the original price?"

"It is the original price," Dark Link said, trying to be sly. "$20,00."

"Okay; I see it on the computer that you moved the comma and left out a zero. That's not the original price."

Dark Link held out his hands in front of him. "No trickery here. I promise! That's the original price!"

"No, you dumbtard; I want $20,000 for it." Ike was starting to get angry, he was already red in the face. "I can't promise him unscathed. Without injury, it'll be another $5,000."

"Alright, you can bruise him, cut him, injury him all you want. Just don't kill him. $20,00, it is."

"Oh my—LEMME JUST KILL THE GUY—I mean—" Ike quickly regained his composure, for fear anyone else had been around to hear him. He spoke softer; "Give me 30,000 to kill the guy! Take it or leave it!"

Dark Link stuck out his hand, grinning as he did so. "Deal."

Ike took in Dark Link's unusually calm composure. His eyes narrowed, but he grabbed his hand anyway. "Fine . . . Deal." They shook hands.

**XXX**

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE HALL OF JUSTICE!

The trip to the hot springs had been quite refreshing for most of the Brawlers and Dark Pit at the Underworld. Unfortunately, this didn't include Link, who was prone to raging from time to time.

"So . . . what now?" Zelda sighed.

"It's the same mission as always," Pit said, holding Daisy's hand. "We need a way out."

"Hades would know a way. He might be the only one who could get us out of here, seeing as he was the one who got us here," Daisy remarked.

"OH GODDESSES! NOT THAT GAY BASTARD!"

"Link!" Zelda said, smacking his arm. "Inappropriate!"

"He's not gay," Dark Pit commented, and Link, Zelda and Pit turned to him in surprise. The dark angel hadn't talked the entire time. "Trust me."

Daisy giggled. Pit was bewildered.

"I DON'T CARE," Link said. "I AM NOT GOING TO SEEK HIS HELP!"

"What is up with you?!" Zelda exclaimed. "Why are you suddenly exploding?"

"I DON'T KNOW. I THINK I'M STUCK ON CAPS LOCK."

**XXX**

" . . .why were you guys shaking hands?"

Ike looked to Samus, outframed in the doorway. She looked at them suspiciously, her arms crossed. "When did you get here?" he asked calmly. "I thought you had gone to calm down Toonie."

Dark Link stepped back, slipping into the shadows.

"I did calm down Toonie. It didn't take me that long. Afterwards he wanted me to help him look for Kirby and Diddy Kong, which I did." Samus stepped closer to him, staring hard into his level gaze. "I calmed him down after that episode you decided to play out with Dark Link. Now," she said her voice dropping low, "is there something I should know about?"

Ike broke eye contact with her, leading the way out of the room by putting a persistent hand on her should. "No. Nothing at all," Ike said, stone faced. "Why would you think that?"

Samus stopped then, whipping around to face him. Her eyes were alit in not only anger but betrayal, too. "You dirty liar!" She shoved him away from her, as if disgusted. "You guys were just shaking hands! I can't believe you, Ike!"

Ike stepped towards her, his eyes labeled in concern but not in regret for his actions. He put a hand on her shoulder. "I never said—"

"No, but you didn't deny it!" Samus looked at him with shining eyes. "What did he have you do then, huh? Kill Pit? Kill Link?"

"Samus," Ike said dangerously, "not so loud—"

"So it's true!" Samus exclaimed, ripping free from his grasp. "I can't even believe you—"

"Samus, just listen to me," Ike said. "It's going to be okay—he said that he'd pay me—"

"Oh, okay; so because he promised to _pay _you, everything's just fine? Even though, by doing this, you're just going to get yourself kicked out of the Mansion, anyway?"

"JUST LISTEN TO ME!" For once, Samus stopped talking. "It won't _matter _of we get kicked out of the Mansion, since we were about to move out, anyway! With this money, we could actually move out somewhere and have time to make a living. Don't you see? This is the opportunity I've been waiting for."

"So you combine _that _motive—which is BS by the way— with your ever rising ego to make an excuse for yourself? Goodness, Ike; you're so thick!" Samus exclaimed, growing angry again. "Link—and Pit—they might not be your friends, and you might rub the wrong way with them at times, but they've stayed at the same place as you for months!"

"No, you want to know what's BS?" Ike snarled. "The fact that you still think we can work without this opportunity!" Ike softened at Samus' hurt gaze, and he continued, softer, "In our worlds, we would have never met, but just look at us now! And if we have enough money to move off this place we can continue this thing we have, but you won't let me do this to—"

"No, I think you just want to do this to be able to prove to yourself that you can still be the man that you used to be!"

The two stared at each other, fuming; unable to come to an understanding or to meet each other half way. Just when Samus began to open her mouth once again, Ike said, eyes as hard as ever, "I guess I thought you would understand—the things I would do to make us be able to live together. "I mean, you're a bounty hunter, Samus; you would know how it is. And you would let your own pride destroy you before anything else. So I don't see why you're lecturing _me _on this. You should know. We're not heroes."

Samus stepped back then, the fire dying from her eyes as she shook her head in denial. She said listlessly, "What in the world is wrong with you."

She turned and stalked away from him, deeper and deeper into the dark corridor. How could this be Ike? He was telling her things that hurt to hear.

And yet, deep down she knew that they were true, for her and for him both.

XXX

"I have to go back—now where else to go . . . but I can't – I can't . . ."

"Dark Link? Are you . . .?"

Dark Link lifted his head from his hands. Staring down at him was a curious Peach, whose wide eyes and tilted head almost made him want to laugh.

"I—"

"How are you here?" Peach asked, kneeling down in front of him. "And—" she put a worried hand out, as if to touch his face, "why do you look like you haven't slept in a week?"

Dark Link turned away from her. It was pathetic, the state that he was in, and he felt even more so as Peach gazed worriedly at his face. There was blood there, dried but still present at the corner of his mouth, and other reminders of the battle that he had with Link . . .

"It was Hades," Dark Link lied, brushing her hand away. "It was Hades who made me do all those things I did. It was him made me look like this." Even as he said the words, he started to believe them.

"How did you escape?" Peach asked, fortunately enwrapped in his story, listening to all the detail except for the important ones.

"I didn't," Dark Link said gravelly, staring down at the kitchen floor so he wouldn't have to stare into her clear blue eyes. "He sent me here to do another task for him . . . it all depends on Ike to succeed . . . and if he fails—"

Fear swallowed his words once more, leaving him gasping.

"He'll kill me—"

Dark Link gasped again, his fingers trembling. Quickly he clenched his fists before she could see them, but she already had. She put her hands over his fists on the ground.

She was so still.

"Dark Link, you're tired . . . you need to take a shower, get some rest . . ."

"Peach, I can't go back. I'll die either way. I know that now. He doesn't need me anymore. . . I've run out of usefulness. But if Link comes back—or even if Samus finds me—I'm dead here as well. I can't get out of it—can't get out—"

His head still turned away, Dark Link had never felt so helpless in his life. What was he? A shadow, and a dead one, at that. Hades words echoed in his mind:

_Oh, don't get me wrong; I'd still love to have your soul." Hades smiled, but it was hungry, craving. "It wouldn't be the most extravagant of delicacies, but there's a certain amount of dark magic in you I would love to try—greater than, I think, Dark Pit's. Purer than a virgin's, and darker than black coffee. Oh!" Hades gave some kind of noise of delight . . ._

And knew he wanted to hurl. He needed to get away from him, as soon as physically possible.

But the girl in front of him was a sea of calm in the tide of his trembling. She asked no questions, made no presumptions. She did not wonder about his story of lie, and for that, he was grateful. He was tired, so tired that he wanted to collapse, but he was afraid of death, too. He didn't know what he'd do if Peach got suspicious and told someone about his being there; he'd probably let her.

Peach moved to sit on the ground next to him, as he desperately thought to find a solution. He could not go back there, he could not stay here-

And then, like a breath of fresh air, the answer came to him. His shoulders relaxed visibly and he sighed.

"I'll have to run."

Someplace in Hyrule was always an option, though he was nothing without his sister. Still, he could try, and in the shadows usually did more harm than good, if he was caught. Because, lucky for him, he was wanted in ever part of Hyrule, including the more populated regions of Gerudo Valley . . . Still, he could try, since it wasn't as if he could live on his own in the modern world. Eventually, he knew, he would have to find a new employer. He didn't know how to do much other than kill . . .

"Will you come back?"

Dark Link turned to her. Bad idea. Those blue eyes held so much expectation for him, expectation that he could not possibly fill. He was trapped. He looked down, and words failed him.

Peach got the gist. He wondered, through dating a guy like Marth for such a long time, if his enigmatic gestures and foreign responses was second nature to her.

She sighed. "You said to me once, after I had hit you with that pie several days ago—" Dark Link gave a small, halfhearted chuckle – she was the only one that could ever accomplish such a feat in the state that he was in—"if I was lonely. And some part of me wanted you, and I knew some part of you liked me, too, in that awkward situation I impressed on you. But I didn't answer, because I was afraid then. But I know my answer now; I really was lonely then. I followed you on my own accord to help you clean up in your room, and you even said it wasn't like you couldn't clean up yourself. But now you're running away like nothing happened. Is that how you work? Is that what this is? Because I had thought—"

Dark Link had turned and kissed her. He had surprised her as much as it did himself. But in a way he knew he wouldn't have been able to help himself he had resisted. He held her face, her perfect, beautiful face, and marveled at the way her own, gentle hands held his . . .

"I'll come back," Dark Link told her. This was his take off point; a shadow in the corner of the TV room awaiting behind him. "After all of this is over."

Dark Link wondered at the way she fit into his arm; she looked at him with the same, ever-blue eyes, and she said;

"You promise?"

Dark Link, instead of answering, kissed her again, small and tender, before letting go and disappearing into darkness.

XXX

**A/N: And so you have it. Another reason I was hesitant about posting this next chapter was because of the introduction of this new couple, and because I couldn't bear to break up Samus and Ike before they had even been properly introduced. But, hey, it's in the summary, right? And it didn't completely come out of nowhere. Everyone knew something was up between Dark Link and Peach even before he got whipped into the Underworld. So, I'd like some feedback; negative or positive, I really don't care. If you like it, I'm willing to make a one-shot between the two, either as a part of a one-shot SSBB series I've been thinking about, or as a spin off of what happened to Dark Link after he got hit in the face with the pie. **

**Also, I was on vacation for a few days, and didn't think about posting a new chapter before I went off. But, surprisingly, this turned out to be one of my longest chapters.**

**I hope I did Ike _some _amount of justice.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	21. Searching in the Dark

**A/N: Whoo! Finally on chapter 20!**

**Saying that to say, I think that this story will be going on for another three to four more chapters. I have to admit, I was on a writer's block for a while, and I sadly was not able to keep up with my 'updating a chapter every two days' promise I made to myself, but all that besides, this is it. The final stretch until the end of the story. I hope all of you guys have enjoyed the story so far, because I know I have.**

**Now, I'm going to stop rambling and let you continue with the story.**

**XXX**

She couldn't find Ike.

All throughout the Mansion Samus looked, sought after him, but he still was no where to be found. Even Toonie had tagged along, joining her to free himself from post-breakfast boredom even with his help, they had no luck.

They turned at the corner of one of the hallways of the third floor. Double checking all of the rooms that Ike might be at, they came one of the weapons rooms. Peach was there, standing in the middle of the room, her arms wrapped around her midsection tightly. This struck Samus as odd. Peach never went to the weapons rooms, since she fought with ordinary objects such as frying pans and tennis rackets. She stepped in.

"Hey, Peach." The princess turned to her, surprised, and Samus suddenly felt awkward. She _never _talked to this girl. "Um, have you seen Ike lately?"

Peach cocked her head to the side. "Hmm . . . no, not lately."

"Oh." Well, it was worth trying.

Toonie piped up below her. "Have you seen Dark Link lately?"

Samus didn't think she would know, but surprisingly, she did. Peach replied, "Oh, yes, I do. He just left a few minutes ago, from this room."

"Where to?" Samus asked warily. How would she know where he went? And what was she doing there, anyway?

Peach thought for a second. "Not sure."

"_You're not sure?"_

"He said he couldn't stay here," Peach said thoughtfully. "And he also said that he couldn't go back _there . . ._ so I'm assuming he's not anywhere."

"_Not anywhere?"_ Samus was incredulous. "_How the hell is he not at the Mansion?!"_

"He said he needed to escape from Hades," Peach said, startled by her sudden anger, "and that he couldn't go back to him. That he was going to die if Ike didn't succeed, then he'll—Hades—would kill him."

Samus blinked. Sure, she knew now that Ike had definitely taken Dark Link's offer, and knew _why _Dark Link made him take it, but still didn't know _where _he was. She narrowed her eyes at her, barely keeping a lid on her anger. "And, even after all this, you still didn't find out _where _he went?"

"No," Peach replied. "I just saw that he was in really bad shape—I told him that he needed some rest, and maybe a shower—"

"You _idiot!_" Samus yelled, advancing towards her. "Dark Link was working for Hades! And you let him go!"

"It wasn't his fault!" Peach said defensively. "He said that Hades made him do that—"

"_It doesn't matter!"_ Samus had to keep herself from strangling her right then and there. "He's made Ike take that deal to save his own hide! And now Ike's going to _kill _Link and Pit_!"_

"I didn't know," Peach said, her bottom lip trembling. "He just seemed so helpless and insecure . . . and then he kissed me –"

Samus made an exasperated noise, stalking out the room with Toonie at her heels. Peach still stood in the middle of the weapons room, looking very, very confused.

XXX

Dark Pit stopped walking. "Alright, it is _way _too quiet in here."

The others ahead of him, looked at him sharply but lowered their weapons. Link nodded. "You're right. This has been way too easy for us so far."

"The door was open, and nothing has attacked us for the past thirty minutes, at least," Pit put in. "It wouldn't be like Hades to not show up during the big battle."

Link turned to him. "You think he just—left?"

"I don't know," Pit said uncertainly. The girls looked at him in worry.

He looked around at the space that they occupied, They were inside the castle, at the top of some stairs. Looking down, you could see what could've been the entry hall or sitting room, the first room that you would walk in once you go through the great double doors. There was little furniture around, and what was left of it or the curtains looked ripped up or torn apart. The whole castle was very dark, painted with red and purple paint with similar finishes.

Upstairs, it had seemed, was where the sleeping quarters were, though there was no one sleeping there now. There was only one room with one bed that looked like it was occupied; the covers and sheets on them had been torn from their mattress and ripped to pieces; spots of blood dotted the floor and coated the sheets.

Dark Pit looked around at the room in mild surprise. The girls looked slightly sick. "This is where Dark Zelda and Hades had slept," Dark Pit informed them.

Pit looked at the room, getting a little pale. "I think we can safely say that things didn't end well between them."

The five checked in the other rooms; they were all empty, and most of them looked like they had tornadoes whip through them.

"We still haven't checked outside," Link mentioned. "It looked like this castle was a part of a big arena, or something."

"That's true," Pit agreed, nodding. The group started to go down the stairs of the completely forsaken castle. Pit hoped that the castle wasn't completely empty. Just about to open his mouth to add something to the investigation, Zelda suddenly said, "I've got to go pee."

Link sort of turned to turn her. "We were _just _at the hot springs."

She crossed her arms. "So!?"

"Why didn't you go then?"

"Because I didn't have to go then!"

"Guys," Pit exclaimed. "There's no room in this situation for fighting!"

Link sighed. "Fine. We'll head outside. You can go then."

Zelda looked around at the boys awkwardly. "I don't want to go with all of you _guys _around . . ."

Link looked at her in exasperation. "How _else _will we know if you get kidnapped again?!"

Before she could retort, though, Daisy piped in at the best moment imaginable. "I'll come with her," she offered. "If we're kidnapped, then I'll scream for you."

Pit shrugged, seemingly okay with it, while Link still stood there, looking disgruntled. "Fine."

The party went outside.

XXX

Dark Zelda, from the shadows of the castle, looked down at the group from her perch. She saw the two angels talking with each other, then Link saying goodbye one last time as the girls split off and went in the opposite direction.

"Well, that was convenient," she said tonelessly, climbing down some stairs. It was the same place her brother had dueled with the dark angel; the same arena with its toppled, aged pillars and the same dusty and untended ground. Now, though, the arena was empty, along with the castle.

"Was it, now?" a voice inquired, coming up from behind her. Immediately afterwards, she felt strong hands gripping her shoulders tightly. "What are you doing here?"

"Ike?" Dark Zelda said, inclining her head so that she could get a partial look at him. "I should be asking you the same thing."

"I'm here to take care of Link and Pit," Ike told her. "I was just waiting for the right moment."

"Oh, that's right," Dark Zelda said blandly, trying to twist out of his strong grip. It didn't work, especially when he shifted his arms to go around her waist and loosely around her neck. She made a frustrated noise. "You're here to complete the work that my brother wasn't able to finish."

"That's right," Ike said in her ear. "And now you're going to help me finish my job."

"And how do you expect me to comply to that?" Dark Zelda questioned, her eyes narrowing. Ike's arm became tighter around her neck, just inches short of a chokehold. "Oh."

"First, a few questions," Ike began with a nasty tone in his voice that she had not heard from him before. "Where's your boyfriend, anyway? And why are you after Zelda and Daisy in the first place? You never struck me as being the violent type."

"That's debatable," Dark Zelda said with an edge. "Especially with the way you're holding me right now, I'm having many violent thoughts towards you right now." She gave a dry chuckle. "And to think, there was a time back at the Mansion I had imagined your arms around me. I never imagined it quite like this."

Ike's arm went tighter. "Talk."

Dark Zelda relented. "I'm going after Zelda because I don't have anything else to do. After Hades told me what he was going to my brother, he—"

"What was he going to do with your brother?"

"If you didn't kill Pit and Link," Dark Zelda continued, "Hades said he was going to kill him. But I think he was planning on killing him either way. I couldn't let him do that," Dark Zelda said, "He's my brother, and was there for me even before Hades ever was, and I told him just as much. Hades was furious—and then, right before he left, he killed me."

Ike was startled. "He killed you? But how—?"

Dark Zelda shook her head, unsure about it herself. "I don't know," she admitted. "He brought me back to life for some reason, after he did it. And I turned, looking around at the room and all of my blood on the floor and the sheets . . . and I felt like I had never died at all. I wondered why he had even done it all, but he was just gone. Left, just like that. I've been stuck at this castle ever since, and it doesn't look like there's a way out."

"And Dark Link isn't here?"

"No," Dark Zelda said.

Ike made a frustrated noise between his teeth. "No matter," Ike said, tightening his hold on her neck. She gasped. "I never thought that you and Hades would work out. Though your precious little backstory helped, it did nothing to win any sympathy from me. But since I found you," Ike breathed, leaning in closer, "it's become suddenly convenient to me that you're here."

Dark Zelda's hands went to break free from the grip around her, but Ike's grip remained as strong as iron. Finally, she spat, "What the hell do you want then?"

Ike looked down at the place of entry below through the arena's window-like opening. Zelda and Daisy had not come back yet; Link and the two angels stood obliviously. He looked back to Dark Zelda. "Scream," he muttered in her ear. "Scream like you've never screamed before, and then I'll think about letting you go and you can take care of Daisy and Zelda yourself. I don't care what you do afterwards. I just want the hero and the angel." When Dark Zelda hesitated, Ike jerked her up a couple of steps, bringing her a frontal view of the ground from about three stories high. "Do you want to drop?" Ike threatened. Dark Zelda had nothing to say, frozen in her fear. "I didn't think you did. Scream, or else I'll drop you, and you'll go falling down, with nothing to break you're fall but the ground. And it looks pretty damn hard from up here."

Dark Zelda, his arms still wrapped around her body in a close embrace, looked down at the ground, retaliation being suppressed by her primal instinct to obey in order to live.

So she did.

Dark Zelda screamed.

XXX

Zelda looked to Daisy on her right. "Thanks for coming with me. I don't know why Link was freaking out so much."

Daisy shrugged. "He just wanted to make sure that you were safe. He was worried about you."

"I know." She ducked her head, smiling. "And I'm grateful for him. No one else would have been able to do what he did, on that castletop."

"Except for Pit."

"Maybe." Zelda smirked at her. Daisy laughed a little, then became silent all of a sudden, looking to Zelda in concern. "Your scar . . .does it hurt?"

Zelda's hand went to her face instinctively, paused, then went to brush back her hair instead. "Yes," Zelda replied. "The hot spring didn't do much for it. It's still infected, I believe. Back at the Mansion, I'll need to put some solvent on it."

Daisy nodded, still looking concerned. "I'm sorry for asking, but—"

"Then don't ask," Zelda said bluntly. When Daisy went on looking down looking guilty, Zelda sighed. "It's alright. No need to feel sorry for yourself."

"I'm not feeling sorry for myself, I'm feeling sorry for you!" Daisy shouted. Zelda blinked at her, surprised. "I can't believe Dark Link would do all those things to you! When I saw you at the base of that castle, you were so hurt—you were breathing all weird, holding your ribcage, and you eye was black and you nose swollen and sore. Dark Link did terrible thing to you—things I can only imagine. I just want to help."

Zelda sighed, looking down. The pain itself wasn't bad," she told her. Daisy looked at her in disbelief. "Really, it wasn't. The worst part about it the thought that I would have to face another day of torture, alone, with Dark Link, in that dark tower. That was the most unbearable thing about it, I think. But I knew that Link would be around to save me in the end. I knew that he would come and kill Dark Link for all of the things he did to me." During her last statement, Zelda's tone went sort of dark, and Zelda paused before she continued. "I also saw Hades." Daisy's eyes widened. "But I don't want to talk about it," she said, like an afterthought.

"Are . . . are you okay?"

"No," Zelda said candidly. "I'm not. But I don't want you to worry about me, okay? I'm as fine as I'm going to be, and no amount of 'counseling' from you is going to cure that."

"I'm sorry," Daisy blurted, looking down. "I didn't mean to pry. I just feel like, well, once we get back, nothing'll be the same. Being here, in the Underworld, I feel so stretched out. I haven't gotten sleep for days. Don't you feel the same? And the pressure on all of us is taking its toll, and I'm afraid that in the end we'll be too tired to fight back for whatever Hades has in store for us next; It's like we're all slowly breaking down. Can we last much longer, after everything that's happened?"

Zelda gave no answer, because she knew that answering would have to confirm that there would be able to find a Portal to get them back to the Mansion. But she didn't feel like lying to her. "Come on," she said instead. "The boys are still waiting for us, and Link's no doubt freaking out by now."

Daisy nodded, and the two kept on walking.

"Link!" Came a shrill, feminine voice from above them. The girls looked up. "Link, help! Help! Help me, please! Someone, help!"

Daisy turned to Zelda, confused. "That sounded a lot like you."

Zelda continued to look upwards. "It did." She thought for a moment. "Come with me. I think I have an idea of who it might be."

XXX

**A/N: Eh, that took me way too long to post, I know. I was running into plotholes and such . . . but there's me, making excuses again. It was a fill-in chapter, but I hoped you guys liked it.**

**Since I'm the most inconsistent person in the world, I can't really tell you when the next update will be. I'm hoping for some time this week. But I am still sticking to my original goal of completing this story by the end of summer.**

**I changed the cover image. It is now a picture of our lovely main villain Hades and all of his green and red haired glory, who also hails from the amazing Kid Icarus Uprising game for 3DS. He smirks and waves at you in greeting, waiting to devour your souls.**


	22. Until It Finally Comes To Light

XXX

"Where are we going now?" Toon Link asked Samus.

Samus took the stairs up two at a time. They were at the fourth floor now. "To find Ganondorf. He might know where Dark Link is. They have to be connected in some way, right? Since Ganon was the one who created Dark Link in the first place?"

Toonie nodded, still trotting to keep up with her long strides.

Samus sighed. She wished it didn't have to be this way. She wished that Ike had stayed right where he was, hadn't been so easily and foolishly swayed by Dark Link into selling them out for money. She was angry, angry enough to punch a wall, that Dark Link had left without trace, and furious at Peach that she had no idea where he had gone. She needed to catch Dark Link, to find out where the hell Ike had gone, and pull him back before he did anything stupid.

Samus stopped. They were at the door of Ganon's room. Samus didn't usually stop for anything, but this time she had an idea, and she knelt down to look at Toonie. "Hey," she said, smiling. "I'm going to need your help with this, though. To convince Ganondorf, I'm going to need your help in persuading him. Do you think you can do that for me?"

Toonie nodded eagerly. "I can do that!"

She smiled. "Good." She stood up, rapping on the door with her knuckles. "GANON! WE NEED YOUR HELP WITH SOMETHING!"

There was the stirring of some covers, and a deep voice from inside growled: "What could you possibly need from me?"

"GET OUT HERE AND WE'LL TELL YOU!"

"At this unholy hour?"

Samus looked at the analog clock at the end of the corridor. It read 2:30 PM. Hardly unholy. "YES."

They could hear the shuffling of the covers and the creaking of the bed as Ganon made his slow way across the floor of his room to open the door to Samus and Toonie.

Ganondorf first thing out of bed was frightening. Seeing him red-eyed, fresh haired and groggy wearing only an indigo colored robe over a pair of striped boxers and a massive, dark haired chest was a sight that made Samus want to shiver. He looked like a regular, old retired man, with the exception of his bright orange hair and the fact that he used to be an evil villain.

"What do you want?" he grumbled. He was barefooted, and his robe went down to about his knees.

Samus met his gaze squarely. "We need you to locate someone."

"Who?"

"Ike, for the most part," Samus continued. "But I wasn't even sure if you had some sort of dark magic GPS on you."

"I don't," Ganon said, scratching his head. "I can only track people down if they have some sort of connection to me. By blood, or through the Triforce."

"Can you track down Dark Link?"

Ganondorf thought. "Perhaps," he said finally. He looked at the two, eyes narrowed. "But why should I do anything for you?"

He had a good point.

Samus pursed her lips in thought, looked down at Toonie and up at Ganondorf again. She had nothing.

"You could consider it a favor to save two residents living at the Mansion?" she said weakly.

Ganondorf lifted an eyebrow. "Save who?"

"Um . . . Link and Pit."

Ganon stared her down with unmoved eyes. Samus facepalmed herself mentally. She was asking the retired villain of Hyrule, to save his sworn worst enemy. She looked at Toonie for some help.

"Can you open us a Portal? Please?"

When Samus saw Toonie looking up at Ganondorf with big, shining eyes, she knew that he had done it once again. At first reluctant to do them a favor because of Samus' attitude, Toonie's eyes melted his will like ice on a hot day. And only a monster would turn down a look like that. Ganondorf hesitated, lip trembling. "Oh . . ."

"Please?" It was like Toonie was staring into his soul, his eyes were so big and convicting. "I . . . I just want my older self back . . ." And if that wasn't enough, the tear that escaped the corner of his eye certainly was.

Samus was glad he had brought with along.

Ganon was, very visibly, cracking. Trying not to succumb to Toonie's cuteness was a losing battle, and Samus could see it. "GODDESSES FINE!" The Dark Lord Ganondorf exploded. He turned to Samus, wide awake now. "MOVE!"

Samus and Toonie stumbled into the corridor as Ganon swept up from behind them. Samus turned to experience whatever magic show he thought he was about to put on.

It turned out being really simple. He stood there with his eyes closed, concentrating hard by the looks of his furrowed brow and tight looking lips. He touched a spot on his arm were the symbol of the Triforce was tattooed on his skin with two fingers. The Dark Lord looked very majestic standing there, half dressed and fresh out of bed. Samus and Toonie waited in rapt expectation.

Suddenly Ganon opened his eyes to them two. He said, "Dark Link is in the Center of Hyrule."

Samus was incredulous. "H-Hyrule? Isn't that in a different dimension, or something?"

Ganon thought for a second. "Hm. Not sure about the dimension part, but it is where me and my spawn hail from."

"So, in a different world."

"I suppose, yes."

"We don't have time for this," Samus said, on the verge of freaking out by now. "Where the hell could Ike be?"

Toonie just looked at her in worry, and Ganondorf was looking bored crossing his arms. Think, Samus, think! She urged herself, and tried to figure out another way to reach the place where Ike had gone to without wasting too much time . . .

"Dark Zelda!" Samus cried. Ganondorf and Toonie looked at her in confusion. Samus rushed to explain. "Hades is the one who hired Dark Link. Dark Link is gone, but Hades came to the Mansion and took Dark Zelda with him. Ganon!" she said desperately. "Can you locate her?"

Ganondorf's eyes narrowed in suspicion again. "Yeah. . ."

Toonie's bottom lip trembled slightly. "P-please . . .?"

Ganon gave a sort of frustrated growl, put his fingers to his Triforce Mark and did the concentrating thing once more. Presently, he opened his eyes at the two. "She's in a place that I have never been before . . . it reeks of death and regret."

"I don't care," Samus said hurriedly. "Can you open a Portal for us to get there?"

Ganondorf gave no answer this time, just stepped back and cracked the knuckles of his hand. Taking a deep breath at first, he waved a casual hand to the back of the corridor that they stood in. At the end of it, in the far wall, a swirling, black and purple expanse shimmered in front of them, an oval the height and width of two people side-by-side. Toonie stared in awe.

Samus nodded to Ganondorf. "Thanks."

"Thanks!" Toonie said, remembering his manners, and promptly turned to hug Ganon's leg tightly.

Ganondorf looked down at the kid with great disgust all of a sudden. "Unattatch yourself and all of your cursed cuteness from my leg," he grumbled.

A villain had its limits. Even the retired ones.

Samus held out her hand to Toonie, and only then did he let go of the dark Lord's leg. "Come on, Toonie. Let's get ready to go."

"But I'm already good to go." Samus saw that he wasn't lying. Toon Link had everything his little body could carry that was needed to defend, strike, or heal.

And she was ready, as well. The only thing she needed was her paralyzer gun, and that was already safely tucked away in her belt.

Ganondorf's door slammed shut.

"Bye!" Toonie said brightly. There was no answer; she assumed he was already back in bed.

Samus and Toonie stepped through the Portal.

XXX

Pit looked up. "Did you hear that?"

Link already had his sword out. "It sounded like Zelda."

"Link, help! Help! Help me, please! Someone, help!"

The voice was abruptly cut off.

"It _was _Zelda," Link said. "We need to go after her."

Pit nodded, but Dark Pit was unsure. "But what about Daisy?" he asked them. "Why didn't we hear her voice, too? Aren't they supposed to be together?"

"Maybe Zelda was the only one _able _to scream," Link growled, advancing towards Dark Pit. "The girls are in trouble. _Don't _try to stop me."

"I'm not," Dark Pit said, throwing his arms up in defense. Apparently, Link hadn't forgiven him for the fall. "I'm just trying to be reasonable. Why would Zelda be on the completely opposite side of the castle of where she _told _us she was going to be?"

"Look," Link said, trying to keep a lid on his anger, "I know you aren't all that familiar with the 'saving the world' deal, but—"

"I am _plenty _familiar with it," Dark Pit menaced, clenching his hands.

"—when it comes to _Zelda, _certain things take precedence."

"You're being irrational!" Dark Pit persisted. Pit was eternally caught in the middle of them two; he couldn't decide on who to believe. "Since you already lost her _once—"_

"_Because of you!"_

"Oh my—_I was being possessed!"_

"Guys! Guys!" Pit said, coming in between them. Link's eyes were livid, and Dark Pit was looking at him with great distaste. "Let's not fight—we just need to figure out if Daisy and Zelda are really in trouble or not—"

"But why wouldn't they be?" Link questioned. "That was Zelda's voice! And not hearing Daisy's voice could just mean that she's in just as much trouble as Zelda is—if not more!"

"But it doesn't make sense since we heard the voice from the other side of the castle . . ." Dark Pit reminded him.

"I'VE HAD ABOUT ENOUGH WITH YOU!" Link yelled. "MAKING ALL OF THESE ASSUMPTIONS LIKE YOU KNOW HOW EVERYTHING'S GOING TO WORK OUT!" Pit looked at him in alarm, but Link hadn't finished yet. "Tell me, would you? Are you or aren't you still working for Hades? Leading us into a trap deeper in the castle, waiting for the perfect moment to spring up on us and kill us—"

"You're insane!" Dark Pit shouted at him. "We've already checked the castle; and I think we pretty much all know that Hades isn't here—he's gone, and I don't have a clue to where he might be any more than you do—"

"Guys," Pit put in before Link could say anything more. "Daisy—Zelda-?"

"You're right," Link said, backing away from Dark Pit's fuming face. "We should get going to try and find them, because he's already caused me to waste enough time—" And with that, he headed off to the direction of Zelda's voice, through the castle's huge double doors.

Pit gave Dark Pit an uncertain look, getting his bow out and ready to follow Link. "I'm not trying to stop you," Dark Pit insisted. "I know how much they mean to you. But I'm just trying to say—we checked the castle—there's no one here—"

"We haven't seen Daisy and Zelda for a while now," Pit tried to reason with his twin. "They could be in trouble." Pit sighed, trying to come to a definite decision. "I wish Palutena were here with me," he muttered, scratching at the back of his head. "She'd know if Daisy was in trouble or not. . ."

"Well, your goddess isn't here, so tough luck," Dark Pit told him. Pit looked at him, and his twin's face was hard. "Go," Dark Pit told him, crossing his arms. "I'll meet up with you."

"Okay," Pit said, taking a few steps backwards. Suddenly he felt guilty, and he barely even knew why. "Look; I'm sorry you're in such a bad situation; Link probably didn't mean what he said. But that really did sound like Zelda's voice and – and, I'm going to follow Link to see if the girls are okay. But we may need your help. It could be Hades." Pit backed up a few more steps, right in front of the open doors of the dark castle by now. "So, are you coming?"

Dark Pit rolled his eyes and walked towards him, passing him to enter the castle first. "Yeah. I guess I have nothing better to do, anyway."

The two stepped into a jog, following after Link.

XXX

Link found himself heading towards the arena. He remembered what the voice had sounded like, echoing off of stone walls, and knew it had come from there.

He had to find her.

Link went down twisting hallways, each one of them branching off into a different room. He knew he had reached the one that he wanted, however, when he had reached the far east side of the castle, stepping into a peculiar doorway filled with the angry red light of outside.

The archway led to a large arena, not unlike the one which they had kept at the Mansion Simulator. The only real difference was that this one had a more archaic look; from the walls that held up the crowd as they watched the fighters, to the dusty ground floor in which Link stepped in right then.

But the broken pillars and the medieval background didn't interest Link right then. All that ran through Link's mind was one thought only—_it was empty._

Link looked around wildly, further stepping into the arena. Where was she? Why wasn't she _here?_

Suddenly it occurred to him how many other entrances to the arena there were, and thought that perhaps she was through one of those. Dashing up the nearest flight of stairs he could find, he hoped that he could only reach Zelda in time—

The doorway through which he had entered from gave way to a screeching sound of metal. Link whipped around. Black metal bars had now cut off his exit. Looking around, he noticed that wasn't the only metal bars that gated his way out. All throughout the arena, the entrances that he had noticed from before had barred shut as well, sending him the startling feeling through him that he was trapped.

He felt _so _incredibly stupid.

He took the rest of the stairs a little more cautious, feeling like he was being watched. At their top sat a great throne, its base a hard black metal that curved at wicked odds and ends. It was adorned with colors of purple and red. As Link crossed over to it, he looked at the view to which it would provide for the one sitting at the chair, coming to the conclusion that it had to be a throne to which a king would have to sit in as he spectated the chaos from above.

From the shadows, a flicker of movement caught Link's eye, and he turned around immediately. Link held out his sword to the moving figure.

Daringly, the figure stood. His own sword out, he looked at Link in curious wonder, a sort of smile playing at the corner of his lips. Blue, spiky hair fell in his eyes, casting a dark shadow over his pale face.

"Hello, Link."

Link lowered his sword. "Ike?"

**XXX**

**A/N: Aaaaaand cliffhanger. Lol, Ganondorf and his weakness for Toonie's cuteness just makes me want to laugh. Ah, no! I just found out that Ike's probably not going to be in the next Brawl! As much of a villain as I'm portraying him as, I really like Ike! **

**It occurred to me that I should probably make these chapters longer, because they're even looking short to **_**me**_**, and this story isn't ending as quickly as I wanted it. **

**Ah, well; this author still appreciates your reviews, nonetheless.**


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